The Materia Of Destiney
by BloodyTeeth
Summary: A love story that happened after the Sepiroth Incident. A old friend gets revived and new characters are introduced. A must read! The rating may change due to language....Hope you guys enjoy it!
1. Prologue

Well...this is my first story. Please give me good reviews as i'm still trying to write a good love story. The whole series took me 4 months to think, write and i'm still redoing the typos of the scripts. I'll try to upload one chapter a day if i have the time to do so.

**Prologue**

_Cloud..._

The voice echoed in the dark. Cloud looked into the emptiness to find the source, but it had seemed to come from all around him.

_Cloud..._

The voice again. Cloud tried to figure out who the voice belonged to. It had sounded….familiar…nostalgic…

A flash of light blinded Cloud. He covered his eyes from the light. Slowly, the light faded. Cloud opened his eyes, and was shocked to see Sephiroth standing in front of him, his sword plunged deep into the back of Aeris. Sephiroth smiled at Cloud, and withdrew the sword. Aeris silently fell forward into Cloud's arms. Aeris looked into Cloud's eyes one last time.

He felt... something... Anger? Hatred? Fear? A sense of loss? He couldn't give it a name, but he could identify the feeling. And it only made him angry.

Cloud knew what would happen next. Sephiroth would gloat, then leave Cloud to battle another part of Jenova.

But that's not what happened next.

Sephiroth raised his sword again. He walked towards Cloud. Cloud reached for his sword, but Sephiroth's sword came down and--

A clash of thunder woke Cloud from his sleep. Cloud breathed heavily as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had the dream again... The voice... then Sephiroth kills him...

Cloud sat up, and swung his legs off the bed, wearing only boxers. He turned and looked at Tifa. She slept soundly. For the millionth time since they decided to move in together, he watched her sleep. He found watching her so relaxing. And the gently falling rain made him even more so.

But for some reason, he couldn't relax tonight.

For the 124th night in a row, Cloud went over to his dresser, and opened a secret compartment. In it was a little black box. Cloud silently walked downstairs. He pulled his favorite chair up to the window, and sat down. As he watched the rain come down, he wondered if he should propose to Tifa. He opened the box, and looked at the ring.

The ring was golden, with a light blue jewel in the center of it. He recalled buying this ring for Tifa over 6 months ago, when he visited Yuffie in Wutai. He'd haggled at the price for about 15 minutes. He almost left without it, but the man finally lowered his price to 4000 Gil. A high price, sure, but his Tifa was worth it.

On his way home, he'd stopped by Cosmo Canyon to see Red 13, and catch up on times. Bugenhagen had felt the presence of a powerful force coming from Cloud's pocket when he entered the room. Cloud showed him the ring. That's when they found out that the jewel in the ring was actually a materia of some sort. Bugenhagen couldn't identify what it did right away. That would take several weeks, and Cloud had to leave in the morning.

Cloud slumped back in his chair. He looked out the window at his hometown of Nibelheim. Sure, all the buildings where rebuilt by Shinra, but he had to admit... He couldn't tell the difference between this house, and the one he grew up in. But he knows. Something about this new house... didn't feel right. Not like his old home felt. There was something missing in the replica.

Memories. He thought. Memories of Mom... Of growing up here... Of Tifa...

Cloud leaned forward and looked down the street at Tifa's house. Why Tifa had insisted on making it a museum of the final days of Shinra, he'll never know. All she ever said was "It's important to me."

Cloud shrugged it off and turned his attention to the other end of the street. Tifa's new bar, "The End of the World" was still busy. A couple of drunks walked out, arms around each other, singing songs that only drunk men can sing.

Cloud's attention returned to the ring. What should he do? He wanted to propose to Tifa, and live happily ever after... But what was holding him back? Was he still in love with Aeris so much that he subconsciously held himself back?

I got to get away. Just for a few days to think. He decided.

Quietly, Cloud snuck back to the bedroom. He quickly grabbed his uniform, and snuck back out. He quickly dressed himself, and packed a few supplies. Then he sat down to write the letter to Tifa. But he didn't know what to write! 'Hey, don't worry! I just went away for a few days to think about marrying you.'? That didn't make a lot of sense.

_Cloud..._

The voice snapped Cloud to attention. _The Voice?_ He thought. He looked around the room. Nothing. After a thought, he pinched himself. "Ouch!" He wasn't dreaming.

_Cloud... help me..._

The voice sounded closer. He recognized the voice, but he couldn't place it! But what worried him was that he usually heard it only in his dreams. He was wide-awake now...

He decided to change his plan.

Moving swiftly, but soundlessly, Cloud snuck back into the bedroom, and retrieved his sword. He was about to leave, but paused at the doorway. He turned and looked at Tifa.

_Should I wake her?_ He wondered. He considered leaving her a note, but what could he say? 'I'm hearing voices asking for me to help, then I'm dreaming Aeris's death every night, and I'm off to someplace.'? That made him sound even MORE insane.

No. He thought. It's best if Tifa doesn't know what I'm doing. He finally decided.

Cloud snuck out of the room, grabbed his supplies, and walked outside.

The rain poured down upon Cloud as he ran across the street to the gates of Nibelheim. Cloud stopped, and looked back at his house. He saw the light in their bedroom come on. Tifa apparently woke up.

Cloud wanted to tell her, but it would be too dangerous for her to come. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't want her to get hurt. He quickly turned and left before Tifa could have a chance to stop him.

However, Cloud would have left more swiftly, if he'd seen the eyes that watched him go. They did not come from Tifa's bedroom, but from a darken room at the Inn. Most people could not see eyes in darken rooms. But it was different when the eyes glowed with the power of Mako. The owner of the eyes had been waiting for something like this. There was only one thing to do now.

Report in.

That's that for the prologue. Stay tune for the rest.


	2. Chapter 2

Well...here's the next chapter in the series...hope you enjoy it!

**Chapter 1: The Search for Cloud**

"Tifa! So good to see you!" Barret ran down the streets of Corel to meet his old friend. He grabbed her and gave her a BIG hug. Tifa gasped for air.

Barret set her down. "Can you believe it? They made me sheriff of this here town." Barret tried to fake a western accent. "So how's my favorite girl?"

"Have you seen Cloud? Has he come by here?" Tifa was obviously worried. And that worried Barret even more, since Tifa was always the one to look on the bright side. "I can't find him anywhere. I woke up yesterday, and he was just... gone!"

"No, he hasn't come here. But then again, Corel is much busier than when you guys first arrived here almost a year ago. He could have come and gone without anyone really noticing." Barret thought carefully. "Did you guys have a fight?"

"No. We had a good night taking care of the bar, Boris took over, so we went home, had dinner, and went to bed." Tifa recalled. She tried not to look worried, but Barret could see it in her eyes.

"What else?"

Tifa sighed. "He took his sword. The big one that we used during the Sephiroth incident."

Barret digested that. "Then this IS serious. Could he have just gone hunting or something?"

Tifa gave him an icy stare. Barret knew better. "He doesn't hunt. He only takes that sword when there is danger."

Barret looked around. "Ok. Let's talk about what we are going to do over dinner. Come on." Barret lead the way into his house.

Tifa laughed her head off. She laughed so hard that she fell onto the floor, but she continued to laugh. She wished she had a camera to savor this moment!

On the other side of the table, Barret stood in the doorway to the kitchen, wearing a pink apron with frills. He felt totally embarrassed. Tifa continued to laugh.

"If you'd stop laughing, dinner is ready." He said.

Tifa couldn't help herself. She kept on laughing. Pretty soon, Marlene started to giggle then bursted into a laughing fit. She joined Tifa on the floor, laughing away.  
Barret wanted to shoot himself. _Hmmm... That's an idea..._ he thought. "Please stop laughing. It was the only one that was clean!"

Tifa started to pull herself together. She composed herself, and sat at the table. She afforded a quick last glance at Barret. She almost burst out laughing again. But she suppressed it to a giggle.

Barret quickly took off the apron, and sat down. When Marlene had joined them, Barret bowed his head in prayer. Tifa wasn't used to seeing Barret praying, but bowed her head out of respect.

During this silent prayer, a loud noise came from outside. Like some sort of slow moving missile, passing overhead. They all looked up for a bit. Then the noise died away. They bowed their heads again, and continued with the prayer.

"Amen." Barret finally said.

"Amen." Marlene and Tifa echoed.

Barret was about to take a forkful of his dinner when they heard a gentle rapping at the front door. Barret was a little upset. He threw his napkin on the table, and got up. He went to the door and opened it up.

"Hey all!" Cid stood there like he had just popped out of nowhere as he took a puff of his cigarette and blew it into the night sky. Behind him stood the Highwind, fully rebuilt, and looking brand new.

"Cid?" Barret asked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Thought I'd pop in and -" Cid took a quick whiff of the wonderful aroma emerging from Barret's doorway. "Mmmm... What's that heavenly smell?"

Barret sighed. "Come on in..." Cid walked on in, but stopped immediately when Barret took the cigarette from his mouth. "I don't allow smoking in this house Cid." Barret stomped the cigarette out.

Cid gave him a shot as sharp as his lance, but then gave it up. He wanted to be a good guest, and eat a good dinner. He walked into the dining room, and looked at Barret's dinner. He just took whiff of the wonderful dinner, and almost melted into the chair. He was about to eat a forkful of the dinner when he noticed Tifa.

"Hey Tifa. How're you? Where's Cloud?"

"Cid?" She didn't expect to see Cid here. "What on earth are you doing here?" She asked.  
"I came looking for you." he replied. He ate a forkful of Barret's dinner. Cid was about to take another bite, when Barret PICKED HIM UP and placed him in an empty chair.

Barret sat down, and enjoyed his dinner. He DARED Cid or anyone else to disturb his meal. Fortunately, nobody took him up on that dare.

Cid was sitting in a chair watching TV. He took a swig of his beer, and flipped the channel over to the news.

"And in Junon, the polls' favorite seems to be Citizen Reeve. His campaign of wanting to stop government corruption, and banning gambling seems to be the choice of most voters." An announcer stated.

"Well... Reeve sure had done good for himself." Cid commented. Tifa just nodded her head in agreement, and continued to look out the window. She sighed as her eyes searched the stars, as if they would tell her where Cloud was.

The TV continued. "On a related note, the Golden Saucer stated that without an infusion of money soon, it may have to declare bankruptcy. As such, the owner of the Golden Saucer had this to say:"

The TV cut to a shot of Dio walking towards a limo. "The Golden Saucer has been loosing money, yes. Therefore, we've had to call in for payments on all tabs starting tomorrow morning. No new tabs will be issued, and all members that have not paid up within 1 week, shall have their memberships voided. That's all." Dio stated as he got into his limo.

"Ok. She's sleeping." said Barret, coming back from putting Marlene to sleep. Cid turned the TV off, and finished his beer. In a show of "great strength" he took his empty can and crushed it with his forehead, and tossed it into Barret's recycling bin for cans. Barret sighed as he sat down. He was apparently disgusted with Cid's attitude. He shook his head, and looked at them both. "Now. Let us start at the beginning... Tifa?"

Tifa took a beep breath, and began. "Yesterday morning, I woke up to find that Cloud was gone. He had taken his sword, and enough supplies to last him a week or so. He didn't leave a note or anything. We were just having a wonderful night, then the next morning... Gone. Like a dream." Tifa shudders for a bit. She seemed really upset by this. Almost on the verge of tears.

"I guess it's my turn now." Cid leaned forward. "I'm also here about Cloud. Last night I had a dream that Cloud was in danger. Great danger. I usually don't pay attention to my dreams, but this one felt so real... I was worried, so I hopped aboard the Highwind, and headed over to Nibelheim to see you guys. But I got there only to find out that you came here. So I flew here as quickly as I could. And here I am."

Barret listened quietly in his soft chair. Finally, he spoke. "I also had a dream. But it was not solely about Cloud. It was also about Aeris." Barret let that sink in. "Cloud had traveled all around the world to find Aeris. But he was unable to find her. Finally, Cloud found a way to bring Aeris back from the dead, and so he used it. That's when the dream turned scary. Sephiroth came back with her, and wanted to become a god again. But he knew that Cloud was powerful enough to stop him, so he planned to kill Cloud. Sephiroth lured him to that City of the Ancients, and killed him."

"Oh my god!" Tifa was definitely scared by this notion. And with good cause. She hid it well, but Barret knew how deeply she cared for Cloud.

Barret continued. "But that's not all. Since Cloud faced him alone, we couldn't help him when we got there. Then Sephiroth picked us off, one by one. Then he somehow re-acquired that damn black materia, and re-summoned Meteor. And this time, there was nobody to stop him."

"Christ!" Cid exclaimed.

The three sat in quite for a few minutes while this sank in. Cid was the first one to break the silence.

"Ok then! First thing tomorrow, we board the Highwind and search for Cloud!" Cid decided as he stood up. "Anyone who wants to come, say so now."

"You can count on me!" Barret replied. "I've been wanting to get some action for a while now!"

"We NEED to find Cloud! Count me in!" Tifa exclaimed.

"Good! Be aboard the Highwind tomorrow morning. We will collect everyone else, and find Cloud!" Then Cid added, "Before it's too late."

Cid laughed as he flew effortlessly through the clouds. He dived, swooped, performed daring tricks, and even flew through a town upside down! He was having the time of his life!

_It's good to fly again_! he thought.

As he flew in the Tiny Bronco 2, he was amazed at what this new baby could do! He had built it after re-settling in Rocket Town. However, he had only recently finished it. But then again, he HAD totally redesigned it 3 times before he finished it. The Tiny Bronco 2 was Cid's greatest achievement ever! It had a sleek fighter look to it. It was designed to go much faster than the original Tiny Bronco. Not to mention it could hold about 5 people comfortably.

However, Cid was flying solo at the moment. He had received the mission of visiting all the towns so as to get a lead on Cloud. It had been a simple job so far. First he was dropped off at Rocket Town to pick up the Tiny Bronco 2, while the others got everyone with the Highwind. He also asked around, seeing if anyone had seen someone fitting Cloud's description. One man said he saw someone like that on his way to Mideel about a week ago. That was about 4 days before Cloud left, but Cid followed up that lead, which lead him to Kalm. Someone there said they saw Cloud, but only he had black hair instead of blond. They thought he said he was going to Fort Condor. When he got there, apparently no one had seen him. He tried Junon, and found that someone like that had stolen a boat from the docks. He didn't like the idea of Cloud stealing. It didn't seam Cloud's style. But the man insisted that that was what happened. He also thought he saw the boat heading north.

Now the only city north of Junon was the Bone Village. So that was where Cid was off to now. He hadn't slept for about a day, and was getting a little tired.

But he had gotten to thinking of what Cloud could be trying to do. From what Tifa had told him a few days ago, he just up, and left. She also told him that Cloud was having disturbing dreams. It was a regular dream-fest! he commented to himself, recalling that nearly everyone had a dream about either Cloud or Aeris.

Tifa explained that Cloud never said a word about the dreams, or about them keeping him up at night. But Tifa knew. Just like a woman. He scorned. Live with them for a month, and they know everything about you! Cid recalled his recent relationship with Shera.

He recalled how Shera lured him to the launching pad after he got back, and told him how she felt about him. I was such a jerk! He thought. She poured her heart out to me, and I shrugged it off like it meant nothing. Servers me right that she left me.

Cid's mood had deteriorated to the point where his mind wasn't paying attention to where he has flying. He looked up in time to see that he was heading right for Bone Village!

Cid pulled up hard on the controls... But he was too late. The engine choked. He tried to glide her into the water, but the controls didn't respond! He pulled the emergency eject switch. His seat safely ejected from the Tiny Bronco 2. However, his parachute didn't clear the stout little plane. The chute caught on the tail of the plane and Cid was dragged along with the plane.

Members of the dig spotted the plane about a mile away. They knew that wasn't a lot of time. Most of the group ran away from the campsite, while others ran for the safety of the forest.

Cid pulled out his knife, and cut the parachute cords. He dropped like a rock onto the ground. His chair still traveled a few dozen feet, taking Cid along with it. The plane ran straight in a major dinosaur fossil, and exploded. The fireball was visible as far away as Midgar.

Cid tried to move, but it felt as if every bone in his body ached, and every muscle was torn. He was able to unstrap from the chair, but then collapsed into unconsciousness.

Yuffie puked off the side of the Highwind.

Barret wished they hadn't stopped in Wutai to get their materia. He wasn't aware that SHE was part of the bargain. "Can we dump her somewhere! That brat is just going to turn on us the first chance she gets!"

Red 13 turned to him. "She is as much a part of the team as Vincent here is. Or you." Vincent moved his bishop to threatened Red's queen. Red found that playing chess calms his nerves lately. Vincent was also a good player... once upon a time... But Red still found it difficult to beat him. Red moved his queen to threaten Vincent's King.

"Check." Red smiled.

Vincent studied the board for a minute. Then he moved his rook into spot that looked barren. But Red's face showed his concern.

"Checkmate." was all Vincent said.

Red sighed, and went below decks, grumbling. He figured he'd get back to his studies while he waited for them to get to Rocket Town to meet up with Cid.

Vincent put away the Chessboard, and walked up to Yuffie. She looked green again. Vincent smiled a bit. Suddenly, he grabbed Yuffie, and jabbed two of his fingers deep into her neck.

Yuffie broke away, and turned to Vincent. She was mad as hell.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing! I'm on your side, you idiot!" She watched Vincent intensely, trying to burn a hole in that cool exterior of his.

"Are you queasy?" He finally said.

Yuffie didn't expect that. Then she noticed that she no longer felt queasy.

"No." She said with surprise. "In fact, I feel fine." She looked at his with a curious glance. "What did you do?"

Vincent didn't answer her. He just turned and walked away. But Yuffie didn't give up that easily. "Come on! Tell me what you did! Please? Vincent! Vincent, tell me what you did! Vincent!"

Barret smiled as Vincent walked below decks, with Yuffie trailing close behind him. He turned to look out at the evening sky, but he noticed Tifa had beaten him to the punch. But Barret didn't believe for one second that that was what was on her mind.

The Highwind sailed through the clouds, like a sailing ship sailing through the seas. The sight of the ground several hundred feet below them, merging with the clouds that they passed allowed for a beautiful vista of sights. And the sun setting over the clouds was the perfect touch.

But Tifa noticed none of this. She leaned against the railing, looking out into the sky, deep in thought. Every once in a while, she would catch the end of a sentence, or a quick glance at the scenery, but she mainly just lost herself in thought.

"You shouldn't blame yourself you know."

Tifa jumped when Barret spoke. She hadn't even noticed him walk up next to her. "What do you mean?" She tried to cover up the fact that he caught her off guard. But Barret saw right through it.

"I can see it in your eyes. You think that Cloud leaving had something to do with something you did. Am I right?" Barret spoke in a soft tone, which wasn't easy for such a big, strong guy like him.

Tifa appreciated his keeping this conversation quite. She turned her gaze back to the horizon. "Yeah." She thought for a second, then turned to face Barret. "I keep asking myself, 'What did I do wrong?' or 'What could I have done to make him stay?'. And each time I come up with the same answer; I don't know. It's just so... frustrating!"

She seemed like she was about to cry, or burst out in anger. Barret didn't know which. _Either way, I'll be here for her_ he thought.

"If I had done something different, would he be here now? What if..." Tifa finally gave in to her emotions, and began to softly cry.

"There's another explanation." Barret said as he looked at her. She forced the tears back as she looked at him with a glint of hope in her eyes. Barret looked at his long-time friend and smiled. "He could have just gone to the corner store in Mideel for some milk."

Tifa laughed and cried at the same time. She hugged Barret. "Thank you." Barret just held her, and smiled.

"You're welcome." he said.

_Oh man! I sure could use a drag right now. _

Cid was slowly becoming aware. But he didn't want to. It hurt too much. But he couldn't get his mind to control his body, and he slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the cloth ceiling above him. He tried to raise his head, but the pain was too much.

_To hell with the drag! I need an aspirin! _

"Doctor? Doctor, he's awake!"

Cid turned his head to look at the source of the sweet voice. He winced at the pain. The nurse noticed this, and came over to him.

"Just lie still. You were in an accident." the nurse said.

"Where...?" Was all that Cid could get out.

The nurse shook her head. "Not now. Just get your rest."

Cid was about to ask the question again, but he passed out.

And that's that.


	3. Chapter 3

Well...here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it!

**Chapter 3: Reunion**

_Cloud... Please... Help me..._

Cloud looked around the emptiness. "Who are you! Where are you!" he yelled. But the darkness swallowed his words. The voice was stronger now, but he still couldn't place who the voice belonged to. It faded into his mind like a forgotten memory. "What do you want!"

_Cloud... Please... So cold... Help me..._

Cloud yelled as loud as he could. "WHO ARE YOU! HOW CAN I HELP YOU!" But the darkness surrounded him. He knew what would come next. He covers his eyes, a second before the flash of light. When it faded away, he saw Aeris and Sephiroth. Sephiroth had his sword drawn. He was about to plunge it into her back, when Sephiroth grabbed Aeris. She moved close to him, and they kissed. Hard.

Cloud tried to pull his gaze away, but he couldn't. He shut his eyes. "No! That's not how it happened!" Suddenly, Cloud heard a scream. He opened his eyes to see Aeris pierced through with Sephiroth's sword. Sephiroth smiled, then pulled the sword out of Aeris. He walked towards Cloud and raised his sword. But this time, Cloud was ready. Cloud brought his sword up to meet Sephiroth's. Their swords clashed loud enough to shatter parts of the city around them. _Sephiroth should look confused._ Cloud thought, hoping to use that against him.

But to his surprise, Sephiroth was NOT confused. Instead, he simply raised his sword again. All of a sudden, it seemed to glow a bit. Sephiroth brought his sword down, breaking Cloud's sword in half. Now Cloud was the one that was confused. That's when Sephiroth ran Cloud through with his sword.

Cloud awakens with a start. He'd fallen asleep. He sighed a sigh of relief, and leaned against the tree. Cloud looked out from his vantage point on top of a hill. _It's almost dawn..._ he thought.

Cloud quickly packed up. He hastily shoved most of his stuff away before the sun rose. He was finally about to leave, when he noticed that the sun would come up any second now. _I might as well watch the sun rise._

He sat back against the tree, and watched the glory of the sun, rise above the hills and the distant ocean. He watched as shades of yellow and red play in the sky and as the sky turned from black to blue, to a yellow sky, filled with the purity of the sun's light. It felt like he was watching all creation be born. For the first time since his problems with Sephiroth first arose, he felt... at peace. Content.

Sooner than he expected, the sun had risen, and it was time for him to go. He hiked all day, passing villages, and roads, and travelers. But not once did Cloud let himself be seen. He hid in the shadows where there were no shadows. He took the long way around to avoid villages. He killed wild animals for food, rather than buy it from a local merchant. And he did it because he didn't want Tifa to find out.

But he did all of it out of reflex. His mind was far away, at the City of the Ancients.

Every 5 minutes, he recalled what happened there a year ago, when they lost Aeris. He concentrated HARD, but everytime, it was different. His dreams where merging with his memories, distorting them. He was beginning to wonder if Sephiroth had already killed him and this was his afterlife.

But he dismissed it as ludicrous.

By evening, Cloud could see Bone Village on the horizon. He found a secluded spot on a hill and set up camp.

But halfway though his dinner, he felt as if he was being watched. He took a casual look around. He didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be hiding. Cloud finished his meal, and was about to go to sleep when he heard it. A snap of a twig to his left. He picked up his sword and snuck off to the right. He slowly walked around the side of the hill. He was approaching the spot where he had heard another twig snap. He glanced to the left, then to the right. He tightened his grip on his sword

The tension was defiantly rising.

He came up to the brush where the sound had come from. He leapt into the brush with his sword out, only to have it met by a similar sword. He took a good look at the man welding the sword. He wore a dark purple uniform, similar to his own. He also had pure black hair, which stuck out like spikes on a ball. He wore a long beard, also pure black. They obviously had the same intention. Cloud backed out slowly. The man also backed out. The man swung around Cloud, never lowering his sword for an instant.

Cloud could see a fiery rage in his blue eyes, which gave him a very sinister look. Cloud spotted a light behind the man, and afforded a quick glance over the man's shoulder. He saw a campfire, and some supplies. They had apparently camped on the same hill at the same time.

Cloud looked back into the man's eyes. There was something not quite right about them... Like some sort of glow that-

_They glow!_ Thought Cloud. _His eyes glow with the power of Mako!_

Cloud regarded him for a time. He seemed familiar.

"Where you in SOLDIER?" Cloud asked, point blank.

The man regarded him as if truly seeing him for the first time. He also stared into his opponent's eyes. His eyes became quite big after a few seconds. _Obviously recognizing the Mako in my eyes._ Cloud thought.

After a few moments of hesitation, the man finally spoke.

"Cloud?" The man said. "Is that you?" The man lowered his guard a bit.

"Who wants to know?" Cloud retorted. He still couldn't place this guy. But he recognized me. So WHO was he?

"Cloud. It's me... Zack!" the man replied.

A flash of memory went through Cloud's mind. Being captured by Shinra, and put into Mako tubes. He remembered that Zack broke out and took Cloud with him. Gave him a spare uniform, and heading out on an adventure to become mercenaries. But then he remembered that Zack was shot and killed by Shinra Troops just outside Midgar, leaving Cloud for dead. That was where he got his massive sword, and began his adventure that would end up saving the world.

If this was Zack, how did he survive? And where did he get a sword like his own?

Cloud finally decided on a course of action. "Zack is dead. He died just over a year ago. Shot by Shinra troops just outside of the Junon. How could he still be alive?"

The would-be-Zack smiled. "Gee Cloud. That Mako bath must have screwed you up more than I thought. I WAS shot, but I wasn't killed. And we were on the outskirts of Midgar, not Junon."

"So. It IS you Zack." Cloud lowered his sword. Zack did the same. "I know we where outside of Midgar. It was a test to see if you really WHERE Zack. It's good to see you again old friend."

"You too Cloud." Zack and Cloud laughed. They camped together that night, sharing stories of what had happened since they last saw each other, and other stuff. However, Cloud was careful not to tell Zack what had happened to Aeris. _The time isn't right..._

"Well... Look who's up!"

Cid's nurse walked into the tent, carrying a tray of food for Cid. She sat it down on a table, which swung out in front of Cid. She sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah. I woke up about 15 minutes ago, and I remembered everything." Cid began to scarf down the food. "I take it I'm at the Bone Village hospital." He said in between bites.

"Yes. Your plane crashed. Fortunately, you got out in time."

"Did I?" Cid asked her. "Ever since I woke up, I haven't been able to feel my legs. Please tell me it's just a side effect of some drug you filled me up with."

The nurse didn't respond. She lowered her head as she got up and left the tent.

_I'll take that as a no._ Cid thought. He wanted to finish his meal, but this recent discovery made him loose his appetite.

A few minutes later a tall, balding man with glasses and a white lab coat walked in.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Mac Ganzgo." He offered his hand.

Cid took it, and shook his hand firmly. "Cid Highwind." Cid let the doctor take a seat. "Tell it to me straight Doc. What's wrong?" Cid decided that the frontal approach was the best.

Dr. Ganzgo looked at his clipboard, then took off his glasses to look Cid straight in the eye. "I'm afraid it's not good, Mr. Highwind. You have a shattered tailbone, and a separated disk at the base of your spine."

Cid's confusion came in loud and clear.

"Your tailbone is broken. This usually causes massive amounts of pain..."

"...But you have me on a ton of pain killers?" Cid asked a little more hopeful than he wanted.

The doctor took a deep breath. "But your spine has been broken. I'm afraid that you are paralyzed from the waist down. That is why you don't feel the pain."

Cid knew it was bad, but not THIS bad! "Isn't there something you can do? Some sort of top-secret operation that will fix me up, good as new?"

"I'm afraid that this type of damage is beyond our ability to repair, even with one of those 'top-secret operations'. There is a slight chance of a complete recovery, but the odds are so great, that you really shouldn't count on walking again."

Cid said nothing, but just stared into space, a frozen look of shock on his face. Dr Ganzgo quietly got up and left Cid to his thoughts.

The setting sun shone brightly against the surface of the Golden Saucer. Brilliant colors of red, yellow, and purple played in the sky behind it. Reeve watched as the sun set behind the Golden Saucer as his airlift carried him closer to his destination.

He'd been dreading this day. The Golden Saucer had finally called in the payments on Cait Sith's Tab. Reeve didn't know what was worse. The newly elected Mayor of Junon having to leave town to pay off his gambling debts, or that the Golden Saucer finally discovered who Cait Sith really was. Either way, he didn't plan to enjoy this trip one bit.

Reeve looked at the other people he shared the lift with. They seemed to come from all over. There was a farmer talking to a stock exchange man about the usefulness of cow dung. Opposite from him, sat a short man wearing a white T-shirt that said "Oh my God! They killed Sephiroth!" Reeve was willing to bet what the back of the shirt said. Those shirts where all the rage now.

There was a grandfather, and his two grandchildren. The children where playing in the center of the lift, while the grandfather took a nap. Reeve recognized them as the Chocobo family. The little boy being Choco-Billy.

He almost asked him the going price for a fast Chocobo, but then thought better of it. _No! No gambling on this trip!_

As the lift neared the saucer, Reeve noticed the man sitting in the back row right behind him. He had been reading the same page of the paper ever since he got on. Before that even! Reeve didn't like the feeling he was getting from him.

Finally, the lift docked at the saucer. Everyone got off, paid their fare or flashed their passes, and went in. Reeve stayed on the lift however. So had the man with the newspaper. Reeve got fed up with it! He got up, and walked back to the man. The man did nothing. Reeve's anger got the best of him, and he ripped the paper away from the man.

Reeve was shocked to see Rude staring at him.

"Oh. We're here." Was all Rude said. He got up, took his paper, and got off.  
Reeve scorned himself for letting his anger get the better of him, and not just getting off. He sighed, and also got off. He walked up to the ticket lady, and flashed his pass.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Reeve stopped. "Yes?"

"May I see that pass?" Reeve handed her his lifetime pass. Something about this lady seemed familiar...

She looked at the pass for a bit, then she turned, and grabbed her stamp. She pounded the stamp onto the pass, and handed it back to him. "Enjoy your stay sir!"

Reeve took the pass, and looked at it. In red ink, there was a large stamp on it that said simply "Void". Reeve wanted to press the subject, but when he looked up, the lady was gone. Confused, Reeve went it.

Reeve walked around the trophy room in the Battle Square. He studied each of the trophies as he walked around. When he finally turned his attention to the center trophies, he came face to face with the stone that opened the Temple of the Ancients.

Seeing this stirred memories of his adventures with his friends as Cait Sith. In particular, he remembered sacrificing his first big stuffed body so his friends could hide the Black Materia from Sephiroth.

In hindsight, that may have been their undoing. Thankfully, Cloud and the others where able to stop Sephiroth in time.

Reeve now wandered around the room anxiously. He'd been told to meet Dio here 10 minutes ago. He turned his attention to an old tribal mask. According to the information, it belonged to a shaman of the Gi tribe long ago.

Reeve heard a noise behind him. "So, Dio. Finally showed up to--" Reeve stopped in mid sentence, for he was now face to face with 8 heavily armed men in Shinra uniforms, each one with it's weapons trained on Reeve. _But Shinra is gone..._ Reeve decided to make light of the situation.

"Hey! I said I'd pay my tab, and I will! You don't have to go postal on me!" One or two of the men were thrown off by this. That's when Reeve made his move.

Reeve kicked the guard closest to him in the groin. He pushed him into the others, knocking down all but 3 of the men. Reeve rushed them, but the one closest rammed the butt of his rifle right into Reeve's face. Reeve staggered. The other two came up and punched him repeatedly.

Reeve was fighting for consciousness when the third guard came up and punched him square in the jaw. And with that blow, Reeve blacked out.

"Zack. How did you survive that attack? I remember seeing you shot, and you where flung back. They even walked up, and shot several rounds into you! I even read reports saying that they shot you at all of your vital points. You were dead! How did you survive?" Cloud had been wondering this question all night.

"Well... the thing is... I'm not totally sure myself. You said this thing... Jenova, isn't it?"

Cloud nodded. "Well... I guess since I was infused with Mako from the Mt. Nibelheim Mako reactor, I guess part of Jenova was in me."

Cloud's face wrinkled in confusement. "But the reports I read said that they didn't detect a reaction in you to the Jenova cells."

Zack smiled and shook his head. "You got me Cloud. I'm as confused as you are. But the Jenova cells are the only explanation I can think of. I think it allows us to take more damage than a normal person. The last thing I remember was being shot. But when I woke up, I saw this HUGE asteroid like thing hanging over Midgar."

"It was a magic called Meteor. Sephiroth called it, so he could become a god of some type." Cloud offered.

"Ahh. Well, then all of this weird green stuff..."

"Lifestream."

"...came up from all around me, and rushed to the city. Some of it even passed THROUGH me ! It was an odd sensation... And that's what I remember." Zack laughed a bit. "I guess having part of Jenova in me helped me heal a bit, and all that Lifestream stuff finished the job. Since then, I've been wandering around, looking for Aeris. I tried to find her in Midgar, but her mom said she had left town with some friends." Zack concluded.

Something nagged at Cloud. Both of them being here at the same time was too much to be a coincidence. "Zack. Why are you here?"

Zack laughed. "That's funny. I was about to ask you the same thing. Well... the best thing to say is that for about 4 months now, I've been having the same dream."

This startled Cloud. "Tell me about your dream."

"Well..." Zack started. " First, I hear a voice in the darkness call to me. At first it was faint. Barely above a whisper. But every night the voice grew louder. Then a few nights ago, the voice asked me for help. I couldn't figure out who the voice belonged to, but it kept asking me for help." Zack took a moment to take a breather. Finally, he began again. "After a few seconds, there is a white light, so bright that it blinds me. Then I see a man with white hair, and a black cape, behind Aeris. It took me a few weeks, but I finally recognized him as Sephiroth. He lifts his massive sword up into the air, then drives it through Aeris, killing her."

Cloud sat in absolute silence. Finally he spoke. "In the last few nights, has Sephiroth walked up and also try to kill you?"

Zack stared at Cloud, transfixed. "Yes. And last night, they kissed before he ran her through."

"I've been having the exact same dream." Cloud prepared himself as he decided to finally tell Zack the truth. But Zack saw the look in Cloud's eyes before he could speak.

"Cloud... Where is Aeris? What happened to her?"

Cloud took a deep breath, then told Zack what happened. All of it.

Swords clanged. The reverb was felt though out their existence.

The two men studied each other. They were tired. They had existed in this place for all of a year. They knew no one else. They just float along as colorless colors pass by.

Virtually identical, the two men match their Wills against each other. One stood for the way of truth and righteousness. The other, lived for pain and hate. The only physical difference was the colors of their clothes. The Light One wore white, with black sleeves, while the Dark One wore black, with white sleeves.

The Dark One had won the battle for a while. But outside powers had diminished him.

The Light One could now keep him in check. But it was growing harder each day.

The Dark One smiled at the Light One. "You shall never win." he said. "You shall never Exist!"

"Your powers are weak. So are mine. But I shall defeat you if it's the least thing I do!" The Light One replied.

The Dark One just laughed cruelly.

And the battle raged on...

And that's that...for now.


	4. Chapter 4

And now. Ladies and "Genteel-men", the moment you've all been waiting for. I bring you...CHAPTER4!

**Chapter 4: The Dark Council**

Five men and a woman sat around a round table in a darken room. Little light shone in the room, but there was enough light to see. There was one chair that was empty, reserved for their seventh member.

The body of Cait Sith's controller, Reeve, laid sprawled out in the middle of the table, bathed in a spotlight that was trained solely on him. Slowly, he worked his way back into conciseness. When he opened his eyes, he tried to look around but everything was a blur. He shook his head as he sat up. After a moment, his vision cleared a bit, and he was able to see better. Reeve studied his surroundings. As he took a good look around, he was met with 12 glowing eyes. Some green, some blue, the eyes just stared at him.

"Where..." he started with a gasp. "Where am I?"

But the men and the woman said nothing. They just looked at Reeve. After a moment, they looked at each other, as if holding some sort of unspoken communion.

Suddenly, two large doors to Reeve's left opened. Behind the doors was a light that flooded the room. A light so pure and bright, that Reeve had to squint to make out what was happening. But before he could see anything, the doors had closed. When his eyes re-adjusted to the darkness, he noticed that another pair of glowing eyes now occupied the seventh chair. But these eyes where different from the rest. Instead of glowing green, or blue like most of the other eyes, these eyes glowed an intense red. The red of war, and blood.

Reeve's vision had cleared up by now, and he could make out some features of the men and the woman. But Reeve was interested in the man with the red eyes. He had long, flowing black hair, which was the same color as his uniform. He noticed this right away. He quickly glanced around the room. Each person had a different uniform on. Some looked like Shinra issued uniforms, but they seemed to be decorated in a way that could reflect the owner's personality. The other uniforms where not recognizable, since they probably made their uniforms themselves. But all of the uniforms had a similar feel or theme to them. Reeve turned his attention back to the man with the red eyes.

Something about this man put the fear of Sephiroth into Reeve. Finally, Reeve spoke.

"Who are you?"

The man with the red eyes regarded him for a bit. He considered all the possible answers, but thought that the simplest was the best.

"You may call me Talon." he replied.

Reeve felt the deadly stares of the other men and especially the woman. "Where am I! What do you want! What is all of this!"

Talon spoke as a immortal being might speak to an insect that he was about to deliberately squish. "Where you are is unimportant. What IS important is that we are the Dark Council." Talon replied. "As for what we want... you will discover that in time." Laughter filled the room. "Just do as your told." Reeve felt like he just woke up in the lion's den.

But before Reeve could do anything, his world went into darkness again.

"But I HAVE to be let on!"

"I'm sorry lady, but I can't have passengers." The captain of the Lithavore looked at the woman sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

But the woman wouldn't leave it at that. "I'll do anything! Pay anything! But I HAVE to be let on!"

The captain sighed. "Listen lady. My insurance doesn't cover passengers. I just run a cargo ship! If I were to let you on, and you got hurt, I would have to pay for it out of my own pocket. And right now, I'm barely squeaking by as it is! There's nothing I can do. I'm sorry."

The woman was about to throw a fit, when a thought struck her. "Does your insurance cover your crew?"

The captain looked at her. "You know... I think it does." The captain quickly got out his insurance documents, looking for the right page. "Ah ha! Here it is!" The captain smiled. "Yes, it does cover my crew!" The captain put his documents away. "What's your area of expertise?"

"Engineering!" the woman replied enthusiastically.

"Perfect! Welcome aboard the _Lithavore_!" The captain shook the woman's hand as she came aboard. "Next stop, Bone Village!"

"Get up!"

Reeve felt someone kicking him. He wished they would just go away.

"Get up Reeve! Now!"  
Reeve didn't like this new development. He was asleep, and someone from the outside world was waking him up by name. "Go away!" he muttered.

Suddenly, Reeve felt a bucket full of cold water hit him like a ton of bricks. He sat up immediately, and opened his eyes to see who had doused him in water.

To his surprise, he saw Reno, Rude, Elena and someone he didn't recognize standing over him. Reno was holding an empty bucket. Reno tried not to let his smile show, but it was obvious that he had enjoyed splashing him with water.

After a second, he turned his attention to Rude and Elena. When his eyes fell upon Elena, he immediately recognized her as the ticket lady at the Golden Saucer.

Reeve finally got the idea that it was all a trap for him.

After a moment of reflection, Reeve took a look at the new guy. He had a medium build, was slightly shorter than Rude, and had brown hair that had 2 white stripes along either side. He also wore a Turk uniform that closely resembled Elena's. He reminded Reeve of Tseng in some ways. Reno noticed his gaze. "Allow me to introduce Mark. Our newest recruit." He said annoyingly.

Reeve had half a mind to give Reno a round house punch, but gave that notion up. _Fighting the Turks will do nothing._ Reeve thought. He got up, and looked around. He was sitting in the middle of the Sector 6 market in Midgar.

Most of the people had left Midgar after Meteor came, but a few decided to stay, and try to fix the place up. Sadly, they were doing a poor job of it. The place was cleaner, but over 3/4ths of the city was still the way Meteor had left it.

But none of this crossed Reeve's mind as he got up. "So... What are the Turks doing here?"

Elena was about to answer, but Reno cut her off. "Looking for you. We had gotten an anonymous tip that you could be found in Midgar." Reno smiled. "Looks like the tip was right."

Rude shoved his hand into his pocket and fished out 200 Gil, which he promptly gave to Reno.

Reeve didn't like where this seemed to be leading. The Turks never did something without a reason. "But why come after me?"

"We need you again." Rude intersected.

"We need someone we can trust on the inside of AVALANCH again. They seem to be on the move again. Collecting everyone, but we're not sure what for." Elena explained.

Reeve got the notion. And he didn't like it. He'd already turned out to be a spy once. If he did so again, they would surely find out, and fry his ass. "But there MUST be another way. A bug, or something like that!" Reno smiled, and shook his head. "We did bug one them. The one called Cid. However, the bug has stopped transmitting. We can't even locate it anymore."

Rude Continued. "Our last transmission said something about Bone Village."

"Cid was heading in that direction when the bug stopped transmitting." Elena finished.

Reeve finally got to the part he wanted to know. "Who hired you? What is your mission?"

Reno looked at Reeve with a grin. "You know we can't answer that."

"You want my help? Tell me what I want to know. Otherwise, no deal!"

The Turks seem to consider this for a bit. They all looked at each other. Finally, Reno spoke. "We don't know who we are working for. There is a contact between us and them. However, he will only see me. As for the mission, we don't know. They just tell us what to do, and we do it. We don't ask why, and we don't care. We have no idea what the end result of this mission will be."

Reeve thought about this for a bit. "All right. I'm in." _Until I discover what your true mission is._ He added silently.

"Good." Reno replied. "We will be in contact."

And with that, The Turks slipped into the darkness.

Reeve decided that going himself would be too risky. He would have to take control of his Cait Sith body again. The problem was... he didn't know where it was!

Rocket Town was not the most hospitable town in the world. It seemed like no one would even give Barret the time of day. All he'd been doing was asking if anyone had an extra key to Cid's house.

Everyone was waiting for Barret to come back. Vincent, avoiding Yuffie, had disappeared the instant they'd set down.

Tifa and Yuffie leaned against the Highwind, watching Barret show off his people skills. Both Yuffie and Tifa where laughing softly. They both wore wide grins. Watching Barret's performance was the funniest thing they could do until Cid arrived.

Red came out of the Highwind and looked at Tifa and Yuffie. "What's so funny?" He asked. He followed their gaze over to where Barret was asking a little kid if his parents had a key to Mr. Highwind's house. The kid ignored Barret and just played in the sand and dirt.

"Oh. I see." Red also laughed a little, but then turned around and looked for Vincent. Red walked around to the back of Cid's house, where Cid had kept both Tiny Broncos. But there was something new, or something he just hadn't noticed before. Red walked over, and tried to clear the bushes away from the object. Finally, he'd cleared enough to see what it was.

Before Red stood a door. The back of the building sloped steeply down, so Red figured it led below ground. Red tried to open the door, but noticed that there was a large metal lock on it.

Red knew he shouldn't, but his curiosity got the better of him. He lifted his front left paw, and extended his claw. He slipped it into the lock, and twisted. Nothing happened. He tried again. This time, there was a definite CLICK sound. He opened the door with his tail, and walked in.

A shaft of light from the doorway lit the stairs for about 20 feet. Red looked around, and found a light switch. He flipped it. Slowly, one by one, lights lit up the stairs. Red walked down them a bit, when he heard a KLANG sound. He turned around to see that the door had closed behind him. He ran back to the door, but saw that there was a knob on the lock.

_Good._ he thought. _At least I'm not locked in._

Red turned around, and walked down the stairs. At the bottom, he found a luminous wall of light. It blocked his path. The wall looked made of some liquid, reflecting Red's image. But Red could also see through it. It looked like a large cavern was behind it.

Red tentatively stuck his paw into the wall. It felt warm, like bathwater. But it also had a tingling sensation to it that Red had never felt before. He pulled his paw out. It wasn't wet at all. It was as dry as it was when he put it in.

Red took another good look at the wall. He looked at the sides of it, where it met the brick of the opposing walls. On one side was a little box with several buttons. All of them had some sort of ancient writing on them that even Red did not recognize. However, there where two buttons that had tape on them. In Cid's handwriting, one said ON and the other said OFF. Unsure, Red pressed the OFF button.

The liquid wall vanished. Behind it, the end of the tunnel went on for about a meter or two. Red wondered where the cavern went. He pressed the ON button, and the liquid wall appeared, with the large cavern behind it.

Red then decided to trust fate, closed his eyes, and jumped into the wall.

Reeve stood outside the main building of Shinra Inc. He was surprised to see it still stood as tall as it did. He was even more surprised to see some of the windows had lights shinning in them.

_Well at least I won't have to stumble around in the dark._ Reeve thought as he entered the building.

The inside of the building looked little better than the outside. Several displays where crushed where support beams had fallen. Ceiling tiles lay where they had fallen, most of them broken into several pieces.

Reeve made his to the elevators in the back. He held out little hope that they would work. When he pressed the UP button, he was surprised to see the doors open. Without looking, he almost walked in. But he pulled himself back to safety. He looked down to see that the elevator had fallen since he was here last. It now lay in several broken pieces at the bottom of the shaft. _We sure did skimp on construction costs!_

Reeve pressed the UP button again. The other elevator started it's descent. When the doors opened, he looked in first. On the floor of the elevator where several decomposed rats. _Obviously they got stuck inside._

He ignored the smell, and pressed the button for level 64. He had a rather uneventful trip up. But when the doors opened, he found himself facing several deformed creatures. They where munching away on a very large rat, almost as long as Reeve's arm.

_Damn Hojo!_ he thought. He slowly walked out of the elevator, and walked around the corner without making a sound. When he was out of sight, he sighed a heavy sigh of relief. He carefully looked around, and found the stairway to level 65. He ran up the steps as fast as he could, until he reached the 67th level. As he exited the stairs, he carefully looked to the left, then to the right.

The hallway was clear. Reeve snuck over to Hojo's Office. There, he found what he was looking for. The portable Cait Sith controller.

It was made into a simple headset, with a speaker on one ear, a microphone, so he could speak, and an eyepiece that flipped over one eye, allowing him to be able to walk, and control Cait Sith at the same time. He grabbed a left handed control pad, and plugged it into the headset. Carefully, Reeve slipped the headset on, and gripped the control pad in his left hand.

_I sure hope the batteries aren't dead!_ And with that thought, Reeve pressed the power button.

Sarah had heard about the famous cat that rode a moogle. She had begged her mother to take her to the Nibelheim Shinra Museum for weeks before her mother finally gave in.

And now here she was. She took a map from the nice man at the door, and opened it up.

She quickly located what she wanted to see.

"Mommy! Come on! I want to go see it now!" She said as she dragged her mother along.

"Ok, honey! We'll go see it now." her mother replied with a shake of her head.

They had climbed the stairs to the upper level, and went into what was once Tifa's room. As Sarah walked into the door, she saw it!

There, standing perfectly still in the sunlight, was the stuffed body of Cait Sith.

Sarah pulled her mom into the room, then went up to look at it more closely.

Cait Sith just stood there. Cait Sith's fur was very clean because he was washed just the other day.

Sarah was afraid that he would be behind a velvet rope, or something and couldn't touch him. Fortunately, he just sat there, the only thing indicating that it was a display being the little stand with a blurb of information about Cait Sith.

Sarah ran up, and gave Cait Sith a great big hug! She could almost imagine him hugging her back. She opened her eyes to find that he WAS hugging her!

This only excited Sarah even more. Her mother was gasping in shock!

"Hi!" Cait Sith said, as he waved to the mother.

Sarah's mom just fainted.

Jim expected some strange things to happen to him. He had listened to Cloud and Tifa's weekly story telling at the Inn. He knew that being around them was both an honor, and an invitation to the strange and dangerous.

But nothing had prepared Jim for seeing the Cait Sith body, which he had cleaned the other day, to walk down the stairs of its own accord. Jim's mouth dropped.

"You might want to get a doctor upstairs. A woman fainted." Cait Sith told him.

Jim just nodded, his mouth still gaping. He watched Cait Sith as he hopped out of town.

Barret finally had given up, and just busted the door down. He was now using Cid's tools to repair it. And he didn't like it one bit! Here he was, the sheriff of Corel, breaking into a friend's house. He had half a mind to arrest himself.

"Here you are." Tifa walked up to Barret with a glass of lemonade. Barret took it and glugged half of it down.

"Thanks!" He finally said. He'd been working on this door all day now, and he still wasn't ready to put it back on. But having a gun for a hand didn't help. "Where's the little squirt?"

"Oh, Yuffie?" Tifa stretched a bit. "Ohh... I'd say she's looking for Vincent. She still hasn't gotten an answer from him. I think he's having fun with her." Tifa smiled that friendly smile of hers. Barret was happy to see Tifa finally smile again.

"Serves her right." He finally commented. "After what she did to us when we went to get our materia!" Barret took another sip of his drink.

"Hey! She didn't know it was you!" Tifa retorted.

Tifa recalled that they'd arrived at Wutai in the middle of the night. She wanted everyone to stay aboard the Highwind until dawn, but Barret was just too eager to wait. He jumped off, and ran up to Yuffie's house. He was about to knock on the door, when this little ninja jumped onto his head. The ninja held Barret in a tight grip that almost sent him into unconsciousness, but Barret had backed into a rock, knocking the wind out of the ninja, and sending the ninja to the ground. Barret cocked his gun, and aimed it at the ninja. In the light, he could see that the ninja was Yuffie.

Yuffie apologized, saying that she didn't know it was him. All she saw was this huge man running up to her house. She thought it was a test! She eventually gave them their materia, but had snuck aboard the Highwind when they weren't looking. Barret had put his foot down that she would NOT come with them. But they where already halfway to Cosmo Canyon when they found out she was aboard. She had gotten too queasy, and had gone up to the deck, to puke over the side.

Barret just looked at Tifa. "She could have waited until I tried to bust the door down." Barret shot back. But he knew that it was useless to argue with Tifa.

She also knew it, and didn't continue the conversation. But another matter popped into her mind.

"Have you seen Red?"

Barret thought about it. "No. Not since we touched down. But then again, I was a little busy." He indicated the door.

"No one has seen him for about an hour, and I'm starting to get worried." Tifa explained.

"Don't worry." Barret soothed. "He's a big... uhh... boy. He can handle himself. I'm just sure he's off somewhere reading some old book."

Barret didn't know how right he was.

Red sat in the middle of the cavern, reading an old children's book. He had chosen it because it would be simple enough that he could start to understand what the other books said. He had already learned their alphabet, their numbers, and several types of remarkable words, and ideas.

One such word in particular, was the word "Esper". He could almost translate what it meant. His best guess so far was "spirit of magnicite." Whatever that meant.

"So."

Red jumped at the sound of another voice. He turned and saw Vincent.

"You found me." Was all that he said.

"I wasn't looking for you." Red replied as non-chantly as he could. "Where are we?" Red inquired.

Vincent looked around. "I don't know for sure. I found that passage about 32 years ago,

before Shinra built Rocket City. When I realized what Shinra would do with it, I hid the passage as best I could." Vincent smiled, in spite of himself. "I came back about a month after we killed Sephiroth, only to find that Cid had discovered it. He knew about it even before Shinra had started to build the rocket."

Vincent walked over to a wall where a desk was sitting. Above the desk was a painting of a man. Red walked over and read the subject of the portrait. It said "Setzer Gabbiani". Red checked the artist's name, which was simply labeled as "Relm Arrowny". Red was amazed by how life-like the painting was...

By the painting was a push button. Vincent pushed it. Suddenly, the whole cavern lit up. Behind Red, in the main area of the cavern, was an airship similar to the Highwind. On the side of it where letters.

Red tried to spell them out. "F-A-L-C-O-N... Falcon?" Red sat in puzzlement. The Highwind was the first airship ever built. But this one looked well over 50 years old!

"Where ARE we!"

Vincent spoke in an ominous tone. "As I said before, I'm not sure. But I believe we are in the far distant past..."

Yuffie sat on top of the Inn. She was careful not to make a sound as she approached her prey. She thought she had caught a glimpse of Vincent's cloak going into a nearby ally. She slowly crouched down and approached her target. And that's when it happened.

A loose tile gave away under her foot, and she fell down into the ally. She rubber her bottom, and looked around for her prey. But she only saw a cat, wearing a little cape, the same color as Vincent's. She swore at herself for being tricked like that. She walked by the appliance building, and decided to watch a little TV. She turned her attention to the rows of TVs, and found one that had the news on it. She was about to pass it, when a picture of Reeve appeared. She un-muted the TV.

"- Mayor-Elect Reeve has not accepted his position as mayor. When we checked his offices, we were told that he had taken some personal time. His offices did not say exactly where he had gone, or when he would return, but stressed that he' been working hard lately, and needed some time to relax. However, if he is listening, we would like to remind mayor-elect Reeve that he must accept his position by 6 p.m. on Friday, two days from now, or forfeit his status of mayor-elect to the runner up."

Yuffie was surprise by this. Reeve seemed to have worked hard to get that position. She doubted that he would give it up by not returning in time.

"In financial news today, the Golden Saucer stated that an anonymous infusion of money has pulled the Golden Saucer out of it's financial troubles. When we spoke to the Owner, Dio, he stated that he was estatic about this outcome, and that prices would return to normal within a few days."

"Excuse me, miss. Can I help you?" A man asked. Yuffie turned and looked at him. He was almost as young as she was. Perhaps a bit older... He had brown hair that came down to his shoulder, but was currently in a ponytail. He was taller than her, wore thin brimmed glasses that complimented his soft, brown eyes, and he also wore the store's standard outfit. He gave her a smile that almost made her melt.

"No... No thanks." Yuffie replied as she walked out the door. She took one last look at him, and vowed to get to know him better later. He was cute. She shook her head, then continued her hunt for Vincent.

The swords clanged again.

"Give up. You shall never Exist!" the Dark One taunted.

"You Existed for a time. But others like me stopped you." The Light One retorted. Their swords clashed again. "It is just a matter of time before I Exist." The Light One took a swipe at the Dark One. The Dark One quickly dodged to one side, and counter-swung.

The sword cut the Light One across the arm. The cut did not bleed blood, for they did not have any. But a little bit of the Light One's Will began to ooze from the cut. The Light one had to back off for a bit, to heal himself quickly.

But that gave the Dark One all the time he needed to perform a simple task...

Stay tune for further updates!


	5. Chapter 5

Well...this is the chapter which you've all been waiting for. I present you...CHAPTER 5!

**Chapter 5: A Dark Day**

_Cloud... Please... Help me..._

Cloud looked around. The voice sounded so close. Like it was coming from right in front of him and everywhere at once. "How can I help you!"

"Don't yell Cloud!" the voice responded. It didn't sound like the voice. Confused, Cloud looked around. He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cloud spun around to see Zack.

"Zack... What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same of you. It looks like we are sharing the same dream." 

"Yeah, looks that way." Cloud continued to look for the source of the voice. 

"There!" Zack pointed to a spot in the dark. Cloud squinted, but he didn't see anything. After a second, he saw something. He could barely make out a figure. It looked female.

_Cloud... Zack... Please... Help me... It's so cold..._

Cloud strained to make out who she was, but was blinded by the flash of pure white light.

"Zack? Where are you?"

Cloud looked around for Zack, but he was nowhere to be seen. He turned his attention to Aeris, and Sephiroth. But Sephiroth looked different. There was a robe over his head, blacking out his face. He grabbed Aeris and kissed her hard. They stayed that way for a while, both enjoying the kiss as much as they could. When they finished, they both turned and smiled at Cloud. They began to laugh.

Cloud screamed in rage, but his scream was muted out by another scream. The scream he knew all to well, since his dreams began. The scream of Aeris being ran through by Sephiroth. A scream that was as inhuman is it was blood curdling. A scream that the real Aeris did not scream. In fact, the real Aeris made no sound what so ever when Sephiroth ran her through. Cloud tried to look into the darkness of the hood, but saw only black. Sephiroth pulled is sword out of Aeris, and she fell silently onto the ground. Cloud unsheathed his sword, and charged Sephiroth.

The fight was evenly matched. But something about the way Sephiroth was fighting seemed not only familiar, but didn't seem his style. Cloud locked swords with Sephiroth, and grabbed his hood. He ripped it off, and was face to face with-

"ZACK!" Cloud's scream was joined in by Zack screaming Cloud's name. They turn and stared at each other for a few minutes.

"I dreamt that-" They both started. Cloud gestured for Zack to begin first.

Zack had dreamt the same thing that Cloud did, only Sephiroth turned out to be Cloud in Zack's dream, while in Cloud's dream, Zack was Sephiroth.

"This is starting to get REALLY weird." Cloud commented.

Zack nodded his head in agreement.

"Do you have any idea who the woman in the dark was?" Zack asked.

Cloud recalled her image. The most he saw was an outline. No definable features. "No... You?"

"Not a clue." Was all Zack said.

"That was not fair!" The Light One protested. "We are not to influence Outsiders!"

The Dark One simply glared at him. "Anything is fair to me, if it helps me Exist again!"

The Dark One took a swing at the Light One, but the Light One dodged it with ease. He brought his sword around and got a good cut right on the Dark One's right leg.

The Dark One swore, and backed off a bit.

"We will play by the rules, understand?" The Light One asked.

The Dark One only sent him a menacing glare.

And the battle raged on. Neither one aware, that a third person was watching them.

Zack walked back to the campsite, where Cloud was finishing packing. Cloud turned around to talk to him, but stopped.

"You like it?" Zack asked, indicating his freshly shaven face.

Cloud studied it for a while. "It suits you." He finally said.  
Zack shrugged it off. "So... Where to next?"

Cloud stopped and thought about it. He had just been following his instincts. He never had a goal set out. He closed his eyes, and listened.

Zack gave Cloud a weird look.

After a moment, Cloud finally opened his eyes. "North. To the Bone Village." 

Zack nodded. "Ok. How do we get there? I don't think swimming across the ocean is a possibility."

Cloud agreed. Suddenly, he had a thought. Cloud ran to the top of the hill, and looked around as if to take in the surroundings. Finally he walked back, grabbed his gear, and walked off. "Follow me."

Zack scrambled to get his stuff, and quickly caught up with Cloud.

"What's your plan?" Zack asked after about 15 minutes of hiking.

Cloud said nothing as they neared the beach. He walked up to the rock face and began to search for something.

Zack was beginning to think that his friend had gone bonkers since they last met.

Finally, Cloud found the rock he was looking for. He pressed it.

Suddenly, Zack's ears where filled with the sound of old machinery turning. What he saw, he didn't believe.

The rocks in front of them where giving away to a hidden passage. Cloud indicated for Zack to follow him. As soon as Zack passed the doors, they closed behind him. Trusting Cloud, he just followed him.

Cloud lead the way to an old docking port. Water filled most of the room. Zack was surprised to find BOTH a submarine, AND an airplane.

"I found this place about a few months back. Cid and I knew we needed a place to hid these things from everyone else, so I stored them here. Cid doesn't know this place exists, and I don't want him to know." Cloud summarized as he prepared the Tiny Bronco.

Zack just stood in amazement. "Why?" he finally asked.

Cloud took a deep breath. "Well... In the other rooms are some top-secret Shinra technology that Cid would give BOTH his legs to get his hands on. He'd spend all his time here, trying to figure it all out. I just don't think he should get that obsessive right now." Could finalized preparations, and started the engines. "Hop in!" 

Zack grabbed his stuff, and jumped into the Tiny Bronco as the hanger doors behind the

Tiny Bronco opened. "I should warn you!" Zack yelled over the sound of the propellers.

"I don't like to fly!"

"That's ok!" Cloud yelled back. "This thing CAN'T fly!"

And with that, they headed out towards the Bone Village.

Vincent and Red walked out of the door, leading to the liquid wall. They turned around, and covered it back up. The sun was slowly setting behind them as they finished. Afterwards, Vincent turned to Red.

"Promise me that you will tell no one of this place." Vincent gave him a look that meant "Or else!"

Red didn't miss it. "I promise. As long as I may continue to visit, to read the books."  
Vincent didn't hesitate for a second. "Done." 

They headed towards the house when they where attacked. Instantly, Vincent and Red took combat positions, but then relaxed when they saw their opponent.

Yuffie looked at Vincent with a look that could kill wild buffaloes. She was sweating heavily, and was breathing hard. "Where the HELL have you been! I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you!"

Red looked at her. "Is something wrong?" He asked.

Yuffie nodded. "HELL yeah!" She jabbed a finger at Vincent. "HE won't tell me how he got me to stop being queasy!"

Red lowered his head and laughed inwardly.  
Vincent just stood there. Once Yuffie had calmed down, he spoke very softly. "One who seeks knowledge from another person, doesn't learn half as much as the one who seeks knowledge for himself." And with that, Vincent went inside the house.

Yuffie stood there with a confused look on her face. She turned to Red. "What?" 

Red rolled his eyes. "He wants you to look it up for yourself." Red explained. "Perhaps you will learn more from that experience than from just listening to us." And with that, Red also went inside.

Yuffie walked around to the front of the house. She was thinking about what Vincent and Red had said. It WAS true that she liked to take shortcuts. To learn from others, and not from studying. She walked up, and sat on the door that Barret was working on.

This annoyed him. "What are you--"

"Do I take shortcuts in knowledge?" She asked him.

Barret didn't know what to say. He had never had a conversation with Yuffie that didn't end up with him hating her guts, and probably vice-versa. They never just talked.

"I... I don't know." he replied.

"I mean... I like to learn... but studying is SOO boring! I spend my time improving my fighting skills, instead of studying. Then when I need information, I just sap it off someone else. Does that make me smarter than the people who actually LEARN the stuff, or just a... sapper of knowledge?"

Barret had absolutely NO idea what she was talking about. But he HAD to help her if he could. "Listen. I know you aren't as smart as Red or Vincent... but you are smart in your own way. Hell, you're probably smarter than me!" He knew he shouldn't have said that! "But sometimes being smart ain't what it's cracked up to be." He added before she could comment. "You get everyone wanting to know what you think of this, or that. Then they want you to come up with some sort of brilliant plan that will save the day... They ALWAYS have this problem."

Yuffie seemed to brighten up at this thought. "Hey, you're right! We're always asking Red and Vincent for that type of stuff."

Barret slapped her on the knee. "There you are! See?"

"Yeah! Thanks Barret!" Yuffie gave him a hug, then hopped down, and went inside the house.

Barret just stood there. Did what he thought happen, happen? Did Yuffie THANK him? Worst of all, did Yuffie HUG him!

Now Barret was the one that was confused.

Tifa walked over to him from her reading spot by a nearby tree.

Barret did a double-take of where Yuffie had entered the house. "What the?" He looked at Tifa. "Did you see that?"

Tifa leaned against Barret. "Yeah I saw it. I saw the whole thing." She pat him on the side of the arm. "You did good, Papa bear."

Barret let a smile escape his lips. "Thanks, Mama bear."

Cid laid against his pillow, staring at the ceiling. He hadn't eaten much recently, which for him, was a bad sign. From outside his tent, he could hear the nurse talking with Dr. Ganzgo.

"I have a bad feeling about him Mac. He hasn't eaten, he hasn't slept much, nor has he moved a muscle since yesterday." The nurse's concern was obvious.

"Yes... I've noticed that too." Dr. Ganzgo commented. "It's almost as if he's lost the will to live." He shook his head, then rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I don't know. I've tried to talk to him about the lifestyle changes he'll have to make, but he was unresponsive. I told him what could be done to try to get his ability to walk back, but he barely moved."

"I've noticed that. The most movement he does blink and move his head back and forth." The nurse's shoulders slumped. "Is there anyone we should contact?"

"Word of the explosion, and it's lone pilot, spread almost the instant it happened." Dr. Ganzgo explained. He opened the door to the tent, and looked at Cid. "And he wasn't been able to give us any name other than his own." He closed the door. "There's not much more we can do until he decides to help us."

"What of this 'Shera' person?" The nursed asked. The doctor's puzzled look was enough.

"Last night, during his sleep, he kept calling to someone name Shera. I don't know if Shera is a man or a woman, but I'm willing to bet that it's his wife, or friend, or lover, or something like that. Someone he's close to."

"Well... the most we can do is hope this 'Shera' person comes looking for Mr. Highwind. 'Shera' may be his only hope."

Cid heard all of this, but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything anymore. No matter what the doctors told him, he knew his life was over. He just wanted to see Shera one last time, before he left this world.

Shera... Please hurry.

Reeve quickly ran across the fields. He was being chased by wild creatures. Every once in a while, he would stop to cast Lighting, in hopes that it would scare them away. In a few cases, it worked. But for the most part, it just enraged the creatures.

Reeve was running, when he pasted something small. He afforded a quick glance at what it was. Reeve stopped dead in his tracks.

It was a 5 year old little girl picking flowers.

The monsters had changed direction towards the little girl.

Reeve shook his head. "Damn!" He started to run directly at the monsters. "Hey! Over here you block heads!" Reeve shouted at the monsters. They all stopped and looked at this new target. They seemed curious at first. Then some of them started back towards the girl. "Oh no you don't!" Reeve found a good sized rock and huffed it at the lead monster. It hit it right in the eye. The serpent-like monster stopped and looked at Reeve with it's good eye.

"Uh-oh..." was all he said. Suddenly, all the monsters where after him again. He ran until he was sure the little girl was safely away. Reeve suddenly stopped, and pulled out a red Materia orb. He looked into the orb with a clear idea in his head.

Suddenly, to the monsters' surprise, lights flashed all around them. Suddenly, their prey had disappeared. He was replaced with a large beast that looked almost like a WEAPON. The tallest of the monsters coming up only to it's ankle. The Creature bent down to look at all the monsters. Slowly, the Creature opened it's mouth.

"BOO!" The Creature's voice was deep enough to shake the nearby mountains.  
The monsters all ran away as fast as they could. When they had left, the Creature disappeared, and was replaced with Reeve. Reeve walked up to the little girl, and bent down.

"Are you ok, sweetie?" He asked.

"Yes." The little girl replied. She appeared to be oblivious to the whole ordeal. "Thank you. Want a flower?" She offered him a slightly droopy dandelion.

"Why thank you." Reeve took the flower. He closed his eyes, and took a whiff of it. It smelled a little old, but he smiled anyway. He opened his eyes to thank her again, but she was gone.

Reeve got up and looked all around. She was nowhere in sight. As if she'd just disappeared. Reeve scratched his head, then looked at the flower. It now looked much healthier then it had a few moments ago. He took a whiff of it. It smelled vibrant, and fresh.

"Something very weird is going on here."

"Something very weird is going on here."

Two men stood around the body of Cait Sith, which was just standing in the middle of the road... In mid-stride. One of his feet was suspended above the ground, but Cait Sith didn't wobble, or tip over.

The younger of the two men turned to the older. "Hey Chuck! How much do you think we could get for this at the Golden Saucer?"

Chuck scratched his balding head, which he hid under his hat. "I don't know Verne. I mean, I know we could get a lot, but what if the owner comes to get it?"

Verne just started to try and move Cait Sith. "Well too bad! He shouldn't have left it here in the first place!" Verne wasn't particularly strong, but Cait Sith wasn't particularly heavy either. Verne was able to get him in the back of their truck without much difficulty.

"Yeah, but Verne, what if it was your stuffed toy?" Chuck asked as he got into the cab.

"I would just hope the little girl who got it, loved it as much as I did!" Verne responded.

"Now drive." 

Chuck just shrugged at that, and started to drive. After a few minutes, there came a tapping sound. "Did you hear that?"

Verne faced him. "Hear what?" The tapping came again, only a little louder. 

"That!"

Verne looked at the ceiling. "I dunno. Maybe a bird?"

Chuck gave Verne a harsh look. "Birds don't tap on the roof of a moving truck!" 

A muffled sound came from behind them. Chuck stopped the truck, and opened the window leading into the back of the truck.

"Excuse me." Said Cait Sith. "But my destination is the other way."

Chuck and Verne looked at each other, then screamed. Chuck floored the gas pedal, sending the truck racing down the road. However, the initial acceleration had caused Cait Sith to tumble out of the back of the truck.

He got up, dusted himself off, and continued on his way to Rocket City.

The Watcher continued to watch the battle unfold before her. The two combatants where still trading insults, and wounds. As she watched, she noticed that both of them where fighting for the same thing. Their right to Exist. She considered telling them this, what would it accomplish?

Suddenly the Dark One's eyes grew wide as she discovered that he could SEE her! "Hey. Look behind you."

But the Light One smiled. "I won't fall for that again."

The Dark One then stepped out of combat. His sword was still ready, but he did not swing it. Instead, he circled the Light One, until the Light One could see the Watcher. His eyes too, grew quite large.

The Light One and the Dark One, for the first time since they could remember, lowered their swords, as they walked up to the Watcher.

The woman stepped off the Lithavore. "Thank you Captain."

The captain saluted her. "No, thank you! My engines have never ran this good! I might have to start raising my price."

The woman smiled, then turned and walked into Bone Village. Several people were working on uncovering bones of some kind or another. The woman walked up to a man in a white coat.

"Excuse me. But what happened to the pilot of the airplane that crashed here?"

The balding man pushed his glasses up. "Are you a relative of the man?"

The woman looked unsure of what to say. "Well... not really."

"Then I'm afraid you can't see him." The man started to walk away.

The woman's heart nearly stopped. "Excuse me Mr…?"

The man stopped. "Doctor. Dr. Mac Ganzgo."

"Dr. Ganzgo... I'm not a reporter or anything." Then the woman explained everything.

Cid stared at the ceiling. He knew his time was short. Not much more time left. I only wish that Shera had gotten here in time. Cid sighed inwardly. Not much chance she'll get here in time now.

Cid heard the door to the tent open. He saw Dr. Ganzgo's big, fat head appear. "Mr. Highwind. You have a visitor." Dr. Ganzgo backed away.

No one appeared. Great. I get a visitor from nothingness.

Suddenly a familiar face obscured his vision. He blinked. It wasn't possible!

"Shera?" he asked.

Shera exploded with emotion. She laughed and cried. "Yes... It's me."

"What...? What are you doing here?" Cid sat up a bit so he could see her better.

Shera laughed even harder. "I'm here to see you, you big lug!"

Dr. Ganzgo simply smiled. "I think I'll leave you two alone."

When the doctor had left, Cid took a good look at Shera. "I'm glad you came. I thought I would never see you again."

Shera didn't know what he was talking about, and she didn't care. She walked over, and sat on the bed next to him. "It doesn't matter what you thought. I'm here now. And when the doctor releases you, we'll go back to Rocket Town, and build you a brand new spaceship!"

"That sounds nice." Cid smiled weakly. "Listen." He took her hand with both of his. "No matter what happens to me, I want you to live a full and happy life. Follow your dreams. Don't take any lip from anybody, and never settle for anything. Promise me you will do this."

Shera didn't like the sound in his voice. "What are you talking about Cid? You're going to live through this! The doctor told me that you could still live a full and happy life!"  
"It ain't gonna happen. I don't have much more time left." He stated. "Promise me. Please."

The tears started to roll down Shera's face. "No. I won't promise. You're going to live!"

"Promise me, damn it!" Cid yelled.

Shera looked into his eyes. She could see the look in them. He wanted to die. But he wanted to make sure Shera was going to be OK before he did. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I promise."

Cid almost fell back into his pillow. "Thank you." His voice had suddenly gotten weaker. "Now listen Shera. No matter what... don't let Barret fly the Highwind. He'll just ruin it." She had to laugh at this. But that didn't stop her crying. "And remember... I'll always... love... you..." Cid's eyes closed slowly. His head slumped to one side.

"Cid?" Shera asked. "Cid!" He still didn't move. "DOCTOR!" Dr. Ganzgo and the nurse quickly rushed in. "Cid, don't leave me!"

"He's flatlined!"

"20cc of quartazine!"

"No effect." 

"Paddles!" 

Shera didn't pay any attention to what the doctor and the nurse had to say. She just stood there watching. "CIID!" Her crying didn't stop.

The Watcher saw the Light One and the Dark One walk up to her.

"Who are you?" The Light One asked.

The Dark One hit the Light One on the back of his head. "Fool! She came from Outside. We don't speak to Outsiders."

"If she is an Outsider, then why is she here?" The Light One asked.

"She is like us! A Cetra." The Dark One explained.

The Light One considered this. But then he remembered something. "But we are not Cetra. We only contain the cells of one. Like the Others."

The Dark One exploded in rage. "We are of the same stock! We exist in this plane by ourselves! Like the Others. But she is a pure Cetra! She can go into any plane!"

"But she Existed. Now she does not. She had nothing to settle. She is Whole. Why has she not crossed over?"

The Dark One thought about this. He had no answer.

Suddenly, a ripple rushed through their existence.

"Some one has entered." the Dark One said to no one in particular. "Soon they shall either Cross, or be divided." The Dark One began to laugh at that prospect.

The Watcher and the Light One exchanged glances. Suddenly, the Watcher disappeared into the colorless colors that surrounded them.

Cid walked down a long corridor. At the end of it, he could see another room. When he entered it, he was slightly amazed. Wax-like figures stood in displays to either side of him. However, they all represented his life, starting from his birth.

"Is this what they mean when they talk about your life flashing before your eyes?" He asked outloud.

There was no one around, at least as far as Cid could see. The hallway was dimly lit, but each display had it's own lighting to reflect Cid's mood at the time.

He strolled down the hallway, carefully looking at each display. He came up to a display that was marked "My 5th Birthday". Cid looked at the display, to see himself at that age. Little Cid was wearing an oversized sky cap. He had made an airplane out of a cardboard box, and his wagon. His father was pulling him along in their backyard.

By the display stand was a small button. Cid pressed it, and he heard what sounded like a taped recording.

"Faster Dad, Faster!" Little Cid laughed. "You're the greatest dad in the whole world!"

"Thanks Cid. Want to go higher?"

"Yeahh! I want to touch the stars!"

The recording ended. Cid remembered this event. This was his earliest memory of wanting to go into space. He couldn't believe that he finally did it, not more than a year ago.

Cid continued to walk down the corridor, enjoying each display.

When the Highwind touched down in Bone Village, Barret was the first one off. He ran over to the hospital, where he found Shera sitting outside a tent. The rest of the group was close behind him.

"Shera?" Tifa asked when she arrived. "How's Cid?" Suddenly they heard the doctor and the nurse making a fuss inside the tent. Tifa walked over to Shera, and sat down next to her. "Shera?"

Shera lifted her head. She had been crying for hours. "Cid... he... he..." Shera began to cry again. She leaned against Tifa, and just cried.

Tifa put her arm around her, and rocked her slowly back and forth. The way her father had when Tifa need a shoulder to cry on. As the nurse came out, Tifa motioned for Barret to check on Cid.

Barret carefully walked into the tent.

Yuffie fell to her knees and hugged Red, a look of dread in her eyes. Red looked at her, and let her. Vincent and Cait Sith just stood there, each of them hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

Barret's imposing figure startled Dr. Ganzgo. "Excuse me sir, but you can't be-" 

"I'm a friend." Barret interrupted. He didn't even look at the doctor. He just watched Cid.

Dr. Ganzgo was willing to leave it at that.

"How is he?" Barret finally asked as he turned to the doctor.

Dr. Ganzgo took a quick look at Cid, then turned back to Barret. "We had a close call. We were able to stabilize him, but that could change at any moment. We've done all we can." Dr. Ganzgo turned back to look at Cid. "It's up to him now." Dr. Ganzgo walked out of the tent, and told the rest of the group the news.

Barret walked up to Cid's bedside. "Get better old friend. I don't want to hafta bury you."

The Dark One just stood there, leaning against his sword. He took a drink from his goblet, then casted it back into the darkness from which it came. He smiled inwardly. Old habits die REAL hard.

The Light One also stood there, but he had other things in mind. He turned and walked up to the Dark One as if to say something.

The Dark One knew that they had chosen to have a rest, and so didn't fully expect what came at him. He was suddenly rolling on the ground of their existence, holding his crotch.

The Light One just pummeled away at the Dark One. After a small time, he got up, and admired his handy work.

The Dark One lay beaten and bruised on the floor of their existence. He could barely form a single thought. He seemed to be in a lot of pain.

The Light One took advantage of this opportunity, and did what he felt he had to.

Break the rules.

And that's another chapter concluded.


	6. Chapter 6

And now folks, the next chapter of the story. Remember to write improvements about the story.

**Chapter 5: The Materia of Destiny**

_Cloud? Can you hear me?_

Cloud looked around. He stood on a plane of pure white. This was much different from his other dreams. He recognized the voice almost immediately.

"Sephiroth!" Cloud asked. "Where are you!"

_The best way to explain is to say that I exist on a different plane of existence._  
Something about the way Sephiroth talked seemed... different. He didn't sound as demented as he normally did.

_But that is of little importance. Listen to me. The dreams you've been having! They are the work of a being of pure evil. A being not unlike myself. Do not be swayed by the visions in the dark! They are all part of his plan to-_

The voice of Sephiroth stopped. Cloud looked around. "Sephiroth?" He turned around as if he was behind Cloud. "Sephiroth are you there?"

Suddenly, everything went dark. Cloud half expected to see Sephiroth and Aeris again, but they did not appear.

_Cloud... Please help me. It's so cold. I need your help!_

"Cloud?" Zack came up to Cloud's side.

"Did you hear Sephiroth too?" Cloud asked.

"No. Why do you ask?" Cloud was about to explain, when they spotted the woman in the dark. She was brighter now, but her face was still too dark to recognize.

But Cloud saw enough of her to take a guess.

"Aeris?"

Cloud could almost make out her lips moving as she spoke.

"Cloud... Zack... Please... So cold... Help me!"

Zack spoke up. "How can we help you!"

Aeris raised her hand. Hovering over her palm was a silver orb. However, it glowed the way a Materia orb would. Aeris turned around, and a wall in the dark opened. Cloud went to look inside, but was blinded by the flash of white light as Aeris entered the room.

When the light had subsided, Cloud didn't see what he expected.

He was facing Sephiroth, yes, but Sephiroth was where Cloud had been. He looked down to see he welded Sephiroth's sword, and that it was plunged deep into Aeris' back.

Cloud could feel himself smiling, even though he didn't want to. He wanted to drop the sword and run. But he couldn't. He slowly pulled the sword out of her body, as she crumpled into Sephiroth's arms.

Cloud felt a sudden sense of pride in what he had just did. He tried to forced the feeling away, but it wouldn't leave. Cloud screamed.  
But it never came out.

"Cloud! Cloud, wake up!" Zack shook his friend awake.

Cloud opened his eyes, and shook his head. "What? What is it?"

Zack stood up, and pointed behind them. Cloud followed his finger to see a massive airship hanging low over the Bone Village. He recognized it as the Highwind.

"What should we do?" Zack asked.

Cloud considered what had taken place in the dream. He turned around. Before him stood the entrance to the Forgotten City, and beneath it, the City of the Ancients. His conversation with Sephiroth haunted him. Zack hadn't experienced it, which told him it couldn't be a ruse, otherwise Zack would have also talked with him.

"We head back." And with that, Cloud picked up his things and headed towards the Bone Village.

Zack just stared after him. "What! After all that hiking we did to avoid it!"

Cid walked up to the display that showed him that dreaded day that he almost went into space. He looked into the cabin of Shinra Rocket 26. Cid's hands where placed against his head, as if he had a headache.

Cid wasn't too fond of this memory, but he pressed the button next to the display.

"Shera! Get out of there! Do you want to make me a murderer!"

"Just a few more seconds!"

"5... 4... 3.."

"ARRGGGHH! What am I going to do!"

A side monitor showed him pressing the cancel button as the rocket started to take off, then went black.

"Shera didn't care about her own life." He commented. "She was determined to stay and make sure I would have enough air."

He walked over to the next display. It showed Shera and Cid sitting down to dinner the next day. Shera had made Cid's favorite.

Looking back at this, Cid noticed that she was looking more attractive than usual. "Must of done it especially for me. Out of guilt? Or did her feelings run that deep even back then?" Cid wondered. He pressed the button.

"Mmm... my favorite!"

"Cid... I'm really sorry about yesterday."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that we will get another chance in a few months. I can wait. Mmm... Pass the salt won't you?"

Cid shook his head. "She tried to apologized, and I told her it was nothing. Like it happened all the time." He looked at her. "I didn't deserve her."

"Are you sure about that?"

Cid spun around to see Aeris walk up to him. "Aeris! But you're dead! How can you be here!"

Aeris smiled. "You're between worlds Cid. I'm also here. I don't know why."

Cid had a million questions for her, but decided to only ask the important ones. But there was something he had to tell her first. "Cloud misses you, ya'know. Everyone does."

"I miss them." She lowered her head a bit. "Especially Cloud..."

"What do you mean we're 'between worlds'? I thought this was the afterlife."

Aeris just shook her head. "No... This is the corridor. The place where we go to evaluate our lives. Based out our final decision, determines what happens next. But everyone's corridor is different. It reflects how we see the world. I think..." Aeris looks around. "Nice choice. I never figured you for the wax museum type."

Cid shrugged. "Well... I always enjoyed going to them with my father. One of my earlier dreams was to own one of the best wax museums in the world. But when my father died, my dream died with him. I started to get into machinery and finally decided I wanted to fly. I wanted to touch the stars."

Aeris smiled at him. "You can still have your dream come true."

Cid just glared at her. "Yeah right. I'm dead."

"No, you're between worlds." She replied. "You have a choice. You can continue down this room, and find out what's after this life, or you can go back the way you came. You can rejoin the living."

Cid was filled with hope. "You mean I can go back! I can go back to Shera?"

Aeris smiled as she nodded her head.

Cid looked at Aeris. "What about you? Can you come back too?"

Aeris's face fell. "I can not come back as easily as you can. You're only half-dead. Your body is still alive, and waiting for you."

"But there HAS to be a way!"

"There is. There is another Temple of the Ancients. I do not know where, but inside it is a piece of materia called the _Materia of Destiny_. If you use it at the City of the Ancients, it will bring me back. I don't if it will work. It's taken me almost a year of wandering around these between-worlds to discover this much." Aeris said as she shook her head. "I just don't know."

"We'll find it, Aeris. We'll bring you back!" Cid promised.

"If you can't, tell Cloud not to blame himself for my death. Tell him I have no regrets, and that I am proud to know him."

"You can tell him yourself when we bring you back!" Cid told her. "I won't rest until I see you stand in front of me again!"

Aeris smiled. "Thank you Cid. Now go! Go back to Shera."

Cid nodded, and ran back the way he came. "SHERRRAAAA!"

Barret hadn't moved since they'd gotten there. He had faithfully stayed at Cid's side, since he discovered what had happened. Tifa came in with some food. He shook Barret awake.

"Hey... wake up."

Barret slowly woke up. He rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"

Tifa checked her watch. "7:32." She held the food up for him. "Here, I brought you something to eat."

Barret shook his head, and mumbled. "Not hungry."

But it would take more than that to fool Tifa. "Come on! Eat! You didn't have lunch OR dinner yesterday. You must be starved."

"Just leave it. I'll eat it when I get hungry."

Tifa slammed the food onto the table. "Damn it Barret! We have to face the reality that Cid may never wake up! He may be like this for the rest of his life! We simply do not know! If you remember our original mission, we have to find Cloud! He could be in a lot of danger! It's time to say "Good luck" and "I hope he gets better" and be on our way!"

Barret wasn't looking at Tifa anymore. Tifa sensed that Shera was right behind her. She turned around to see that she was right. "Shera... I didn't mean that-"

"Oh yes you did." She interrupted. "You just want to cut your losses and go find your boyfriend Cloud. Well... go. Go now. Or I will!" Tifa had never heard Shera speak with such anger... Such conviction.

"Shera please don't-" Tifa started.

"shera..." They all turned toward Cid. "Shera... please come back..."

"Cid? Cid! Cid I'm here!" Shera rushed to his side. She grabbed his hand and kissed it.

She started to cry. "Oh Cid! Don't ever leave me!"

Barret went to the door. Yuffie was sleeping in one of the chairs next to the tent. "Yo! Yuffie!"

Yuffie bounced out of the chair, and into combat position. "Not on my watch!" She suddenly noticed her surroundings. "Huh?"

Barret rolled his eyes. "Yuffie!"

Yuffie turned around to face Barret. She was startled to see Barret's bearded face, and jumped back a foot. Barret groaned.

"Get the others! Cid's waking up!"

"He's waking up?" A smile appeared on Yuffie's face as the news sank in. She suddenly was off in a flash to get the others.

Barret walked back in.

"Ok! I promise never to do that again! Sheesh woman!" Cid was back to his normal charming self, Barret noted.

Suddenly, the rest of the group crowded into the tent. After they all said how happy they where, how glad they where to see him, yadda, yadda, yadda... Cid got serious.

"Guys. First things first. How's the Tiny Bronco 2?"

"Destroyed." said Barret.

"Obliterated." replied Red.

"No longer among us." Chipped in Vincent.

"Not repairable." Yuffie added.

"And no longer your concern!" Shera finished.

Cid had to laugh at this. He was glad Aeris talked him out of-

"Aeris!" he said. He had almost forgotten about her! His outburst drew a concerned look from everyone. "I met Aeris on the other side!"

Barret was the first to speak. "What?"

Cid spoke real fast. "Well... It wasn't really the other side. It was a wax museum of my life that was sort of in the middle, where I had to look at my life and see if I liked what I saw or not."

"What are you talking about?" Red finally got out.

"It doesn't matter right now. We need to find Cloud. I was able to track him coming this way, but I crashed before I could ask around. We NEED to find him!"

"Am I missing?" Cloud asked. He was leaning against the doorway.

Tifa's heart soared. He ran over to him and gave him a great big kiss. "Don't you ever do that again! Or I'll knock your head off!" She said in between kisses.

Only Cid knew the ironic truth.

"Ahem. Cloud? Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend over there?"

"Oh." Cloud cleared the door. "Everyone. This is my good friend Zack."

As soon as Tifa saw him, she fainted.

The Light One clutched the spot his heart would have been if he Existed. The pain was intolerable, and several times he almost passed out. But that would mean that the Dark One would gain control, and he could not let that happen again.

The Dark One pulled his sword out of the back of the Light One. He smiled as the Light One fell to the floor, clutching his chest. "Don't EVER do that again." he said.

The Light One just looked up at him. His glare turned icy, then fiery, then it turned neutral. So neutral that the Dark One was afraid it would pierce his soul. He quickly looked away and covered his eyes.

"I will do it again if it means I can stop you!" The Light One announced. Suddenly his wounds glowed with a white light, and the wounds closed up. The Light One grabbed his sword, and turned to face the Dark One. "There is not much time. I must subdue you before they have a chance to activate the _Materia of Destiny_."

The Dark One laughed at this. "My illusions should have convinced those fools to do as I need them to do."

"By slowly driving them MAD!" The Light One retorted. "I fail to see how that helps you."

"All in good time." The Dark One replied. "All in good time..."

But the Light One decided not to give him that time. He unleashed his fury at the Dark One with blinding speed.

And the fury was total...

Tifa woke up to see Cloud and Zack leaning over her in concern. Her gaze jumped from one to the other. She seemed to be in a haze.

"Which one of you is Cloud?" She asked dreamily. Zack pointed to Cloud, then Tifa kissed Zack.

"Yep. It's you Zack." She fainted again.

Cloud looked at Zack. Zack had a shocked look on his face. "What was that about?" Cloud asked.

"Got me." Zack replied. He was as dumbfounded at Cloud. Cloud picked Tifa up, and placed her on the bed next to Cid. When she looked comfortable, Cloud turned his attention to Cid. "So. What are you doing in a place like this?"

Cid took a deep breath, and explained his situation to Cloud. Most of the group still hadn't heard the full story, so they also listened.

"...And while I was looking at my life in this wax museum, Aeris walked up to me." Cid concluded.

"Aeris?" Vincent asked. "How was that possible?"

Cid shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not quite sure. She said something about us being

'between worlds'. Not living, but not dead. I came back because I was only half-dead. You guys where able to keep my body alive. She said it would be harder for her."

Cloud looked up at this. "Does this mean she can be revived?"

"She thought so." Cid answered. "She said something about another Temple of the Ancients... she didn't know where it was, but inside was something called the _Materia of Destiny_."

Red's head bobbed up at this. "Did she describe it?"

Cid tried to recall their conversation, but some of it was a little blurry. "I don't remember." Suddenly, a picture appeared in his mind. He got the impression that Aeris was somehow listening to their conversation and sent him a picture of the _Materia of Destiny_.

"It looks like it's made out of silver, but it glows with the power of a materia orb."

Cloud's attention focused on his latest dream again. How Aeris had held up a silver looking orb that glowed. "We HAVE to find it. " Cloud said. "For Aeris's sake."

Red tried to speak as gentle as he could. "It's not that easy. If this is the same Silver materia I've read about, we have a major problem."

Talon sat alone in a darken room. He was studying the big board. It told him of where their influence reached. And he was not happy with it. Some of the cities on the western continent where not under their influence. Nor were the two cities in the north. He snapped his fingers and an aid came to his side.

"Compose the following message: Need you to convince the following towns to join us: Haggard; the snow town in the north. Meniva; Rocket Town. Fennier; Bone Village. Karada; Wutai. Signed Talon."

The aid rushed to quickly type the letter. Talon stood up. He studied the map carefully. _I'll take care of this "Nibelheim" myself._ He thought.

"Excuse me sir."

Talon turned to see Edgars. He was the head researcher of the organization. He was holding a clipboard that had a few pages on it. "What is it Edgars? I'm a little busy." Talon said with a slight irritance in his tone .

"I have information about the _Materia of Destiny_." Edgars said softly.

Talon's ears perked up and he turned his attention to Edgars. "Well... spit it out, man!"

"Yes sir." Edgars said. He took a deep breath and began. "I have discovered some information. The location of where it should be used is a forgotten city called the City of the Ancients. But I haven't been able to find anything that says it MUST be used there. The only problem being that the _Materia of Destiny_ is not in that city."

Talon grew annoyed of answers like this. "Then WHERE is it!"

Edgars knew Talon was mad, so he spoke as carefully as he could. "We don't know." The hatred in Talon's eyes could almost incinerate a man. "However!" Talon's eyes dimmed slightly.

"Yes?"

"However," Edgars continued, "The Turks report that our spy in the AVALANCH group says that there is another Temple of the Ancients. He does not know where it is, but his group is going after the _Materia of Destiny_."

"WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO US IF THEY HAVE THE MATERIA!" Talon's rage was apparent.

"Sir... if you let me finish?" Edgars tried to remain level headed, but he really feared for his life. And with good cause. He'd heard stories about Talon's opponents that he didn't even want to think about!

Talon took a deep breath, and let it out. "Continue."

"There is a failsafe in the _Materia of Destiny_. Anyone who uses it will have a WEAPON created especially for them. It will hunt them down and kill them, without a second thought. Afterwards, it will return to the planet." Edgars continued. He took a pause to see if Talon wanted to explode.

To his surprise, Talon waited. "And?"

"Well... that's pretty much it."

Talon sat down, and leaned back into the chair. "So... even if we DO get it, the user will be killed?" Talon asked.

"That's about it, yes." Edgars thought that Talon was taking it much better than he had.

"Well... looks like you just volunteered to be the user of the _Materia of Destiny_."

"Uhh.. sir?"

"Don't back talk! You are going to be the volunteer! Understand!" Talon shouted.

"Uhh... sir? There is one bright side to this."

"There is?" Talon asked. "What, pray tell."

"There was once a materia that would counteract the effect of the _Materia of Destiny_'s failsafe. If the user was touching this materia when he used the _Materia of Destiny_, no WEAPON would be created."

"Good work Edgars! I guess you won't have to volunteer after all!"

"There is a slight problem with this other materia."

Talon sighed. "What's wrong with it? It creates Chocobos that lick you to death?"

"It has been missing for over a millennia. The last know record was it being given to a ninja from a far off land by the King or Emperor of what is now Midgar."

Talon thought about this. "A ninja, huh? Do we have a name?"

"Yes sir." Edgars flipped to the correct page. "His name was Shadow."

"Never heard of him."

"Apparently, very few have. He seems to have valued his privacy very much. We do, however, have the name of his descendant." Edgars replied.

Talon smiled. "And his name is...?"

"The _Materia of Destiny_." Bugenhagen repeated. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. A long time."

When they had arrived at Cosmo Canyon earlier that day, they where surprised to discover that Bugenhagen was alive. Everyone but Cloud and Red had assumed that he had died during their adventures last year. It had taken a bit of explaining, but they eventually accepted the story of his "recovery". Bugenhagen returned his glance to Cloud, Zack, and Barret. Cid sat in a wheelchair not far off, talking to Shera about his afterlife adventure. "Are you sure about this?" Bugenhagen asked Cloud.

"It was silver, and glowed like a materia orb. In my dream Aeris never gave it a name.

But Cid and Red believe it is so." Cloud responded.

Bugenhagen sighed. "Then Aeris is lost for good."

"What do you mean, lost for good?" Zack wondered. Barret had been wondering the same thing.

Bugenhagen turned to face Zack. "In order to safely use the Materia of Destiny, the user must have the WEAPON materia. It is a materia that makes the planet believe you are a WEAPON, and thus, does not stop you from your task." Bugenhagen indicated for them all to sit down. "If the _Materia of Destiny_ is used by something other than a WEAPON, or the person with the WEAPON materia, the planet will create a WEAPON designed for that specific person. That WEAPON will hunt down the user, and kill him, no matter what. Afterwards, the WEAPON will return to the planet."

"So what? We beat 3 WEAPONS before! What's one more?" Barret said enthusiastically.  
Bugenhagen shook his head. "It is not the same. Those WEAPONS where for general attacking, to add to the Lifestream so the planet could heal. This WEAPON is not so easily destroyed. It is tailored for each person it attacks. It is not necessarily big like the others. This one can blend into a crowd, hide quietly in the woods, or await the arrival of their target for days, without sleep or food. Even if it is hurt, it can regenerate any body part. It may take a while, but sooner or later, the WEAPON will kill you."

The silence in the room was a little too much for Cloud. "So where do we find this WEAPON materia?"

"Nanaki and Vincent are in the library, pouring though the archives, looking for anything that will give us a lead." Bugenhagen responded.

Suddenly, a young boy came in and talked to Bugenhagen. Cloud tried to hear what he was saying, but it was too faint.

When the boy had finished, Bugenhagen turned to the group. "Excuse me for a bit."  
Bugenhagen followed the boy down to the entrance of Cosmo Canyon. There, sat a man, breathing hard. He handed a message to Bugenhagen. Bugenhagen was disturbed to receive this message. He thanked the messenger, and took off for the library.

Red and Vincent where pouring through book after book, when Bugenhagen came it. Red looked up at him when he entered. "Yes grandfather?"

"Nanaki. You and your friends are needed in Wutai right away." Bugenhagen handed Red the message, and waited. Vincent appeared behind Red, and also read the message.

"This is indeed disturbing news. Have you told the others?" Red asked of his grandfather.

"No. I figured it would be better coming from you."

"That was a wise decision." Vincent commented, as Red lead the way over to the observatory machine.

Red came into the machine room to discover that they had just turned it off. Red, Vincent, and Bugenhagen waited as the lift lowered to the floor.

Cait Sith was estatic. "Wow! I've never seen something like this! That was SOO awesome!"

Yuffie shared Cait Sith's opinion.

"Well... don't get used to it. It belongs to Bugenhagen." Tifa said as they walked towards the other group. "Hey Red. What's up?"

Red walked over to Yuffie, and sat down. He looked at her. "Yuffie? You father has been attacked. He's in critical condition, and may not last long."

Yuffie's expression went wild. She was suddenly filled with a violent rage. She wanted to lash out, but that was not the way of a ninja. "Who did it?" was all she asked.

Red shook his head. "The message did not say. It did say that your father is calling for you." Red tuned to the others. "I suggest we go there as quickly as we can."

Reeve looked out over the mountains near Wutai. _This is not good._ He thought.

Several buildings where smoking, and he could see people rushing to put out the flames. Several people looked wounded, and limped to what Reeve thought to be the hospital.

Through his eye-piece, he could see that the group was almost to Wutai. The Highwind was blazing at an almost incomprehensible speed. Suddenly, Wutai came into view.

Reeve turned around, and saw the Highwind fly right past him. It landed near Wutai, but Reeve had turned his Cait Sith controller off. He had spotted something, and now was using his eyepiece as a telescope. He zoomed in, and focused. He saw a small group of people hiking away from Wutai. He zoomed in closer, and saw who the group was.

His eyes turned dark, and a hate grew inside him. _How DARE they do that to an entire town!_ And with that thought, he switched Cait Sith back on, and headed down to Wutai.

The Highwind landed in the near Wutai, but the group was already off when they stopped their descent. Cid had stayed at Cosmo Canyon in favor of wanting to look up some information about that cool sounding WEAPON materia.

Yuffie ran over to her house, and ran inside. "Dad? Dad, where are you!"

The rest of the group had decided to help with getting people to safety and putting out the flames.

Barret turned around, and noticed that Cait Sith had just gotten off the Highwind.

"Wonder what kept him." he said to know one in particular. Barret shook his head, and turned his attention back to the town. He had lives to save.

Cloud and Zack where using their talents and their strength to help people. They had gotten to a house, just as it was about to collapse. Cloud was able to grab a hold of a support beam, and hold the house together long enough for Zack to get everyone out.

Cloud was about to let go when he hear a nearby cry. "Zack! What's that?"

Zack looked around and finally saw two children on the top story crying. "Two kids! Top story! Can you hold it long enough?"

Cloud winced at the now heavy strain on his arms. "I'm not sure."

Zack looked around, then spotted Tifa and Barret carrying some kids to the hospital.

"Tifa!" She looked at Zack, as he pointed to the top floor of the building. "Can you get them?"

Tifa gave the child she was carrying to Barret, and ran over. She saw that several of the support beams where burning fast. But there looked to be enough room that she could get up. "I think so!"

Zack nodded. "Good! Go!" Zack instructed as he went to help Cloud keep the building up.

Tifa looked at the first spot she was going to try for. She stepped back, and jumped. She almost slipped at the last moment, but she had gotten up there. She looked over at the two children. Flames now covered the window they where at a few seconds ago. She could still hear them crying. She looked for another spot where she could safely get to, then jumped onto it, but slipped. Her hand lashed out and grabbed a hold of the beam. She looked up, and saw that the support beams on the inside of the house where about to collapse. She tried to get a better grip, but she fell onto the ground. She looked up and saw the beams collapse. The entire top floor collapsed. But a second before it did, a small white blur jumped out of the window.

Yuffie had one child under each of her arms. Tifa looked at her with almost a shock.

"How-"

Yuffie interrupted her. "Later. We have lives to save." She ran over to another house, and began to help the people there.

Cloud and Zack looked at each other. Zack nodded, and Cloud got out, but he held the beam at another point. Zack got out, and held the end of the beam. Cloud ran out of the house. As soon as he was clear, Zack dropped the beam. The entire house collapsed upon itself.

Barret looked at the hospital. Fortunately, it had escaped the fires, but the structural damage was significant. It would collapse if he didn't fix it. He quickly found the broken beam. He found a piece of wood laying on the ground. _This should hold it._ he thought. He held the board against the post, and pounded a nail into the board with his gun arm. He pounded a few more, when the board began to break. _Damn! The whole column's going!_ Thinking fast, he put his back to the column, and pressed against it as hard as he could.

"I could use some help here!" He yelled out.

Suddenly a man in a black sweatshirt, and dark jeans ran up to him. He also wore a weird set of headphones, that looked like he had yellow sunglasses build in on only one side. He quickly pounded some nails into about 3 4x4s behind Barret's back.

"There." He said. Barret slowly eased off to find that the column stayed.

They went outside to find that the whole group had finished putting the fires out, and helping the wounded. They had now all gathered in front of Yuffie's house. All but Yuffie, who was nowhere around. Barret and the man joined them.

"Ok. Now who did all this?" Asked Zack.

"I can answer that." said Cait Sith and the man at the same time.

Cloud looked over to the man. "Reeve. What are you doing here?"

When Reeve spoke, Cait Sith also spoke. It was somewhat spooky. "I was being followed by the Turks. When they stopped following me, I got suspicious, so I-"

"Excuse me." Tifa said. "But could you please turn that off. You and him speaking together is... un-nerving."

Reeve pressed a button on his control, and Cait Sith fell silent. "Better?"

"Much." Tifa replied.

"As I was saying, when the Turks stopped following me, I got suspicious, so I-"

"Wait a second!" Barret interrupted. "Why where the Turks following you?"

Reeve had to crane his neck to look Barret in the eye. But even Barret's impressive size did not phase him. "Because they had hired me to spy on you. They wanted to make sure I didn't turn on them."

Barret almost exploded. "What! You where working for them!" Barret cocked his gun, and aimed it at Reeve's head.

Reeve just stood there. He didn't even flinch.

Finally, Vincent spoke. "If you kill him, then we will never know who attacked this town."

Barret turned to look at Vincent, but still pointed the gun at Reeve. After a few seconds, Barret lowered his gun. "Bah! You're not worth it." He finally said. He walked to the back of the group, and leaned against Yuffie's house with his arms folded. He just stared at Reeve with an un-relenting glare.

Reeve took a breath and began again. "When the Turks stopped following me, I got suspicious, so I decided to follow them. They were in much better shape than I am. I had followed them just in time to see them leaving. What was worse, was that Mark, he's the new guy, was carrying a materia orb that they didn't have before."

Cloud turned to the others. "Why would they do all of this just for a materia orb?"

Vincent spoke up. "Maybe they're after the _Materia of Destiny_ too. Maybe they found the WEAPON materia."

A thought struck Reeve. "Cloud... we may have a bigger problem than that." And Reeve told the group about the Dark Council.

Yuffie took her father's hand. Yuffie was trying hard not to cry, but it was difficult when her father was dying. "It's going to be ok dad. It'll be ok. The helicopter will get you to the hospital in Rocket Town soon."

Godo just smile at her. He saw so much of Yuffie's mother in her. "I know child. But you have a more important job now. Those men and that woman... They took the family materia orb." Godo coughed. He was starting to sound much worse. Yuffie gave him some herbal tea, and waited for the coughing to subside a bit.

"What orb dad? I don't remember a family materia orb." Yuffie asked between sobs.

Godo turned to his daughter. "It is an orb passed down through our family for over a millennia. It was given to an ancestor of ours named Shadow long ago." Godo coughed again, and drank some more tea. After a bit he continued. "That orb has a special power. Only our family has the discipline to properly use it. That is why we have all followed in Shadow's footsteps. That is why you are such a great ninja. From over a millennia of ninja training, based on your ancestor's techniques."

"What does this have to do with the attack or the orb?" Yuffie asked. She was getting worried.

Godo just smiled. "You look so much like your mother." He caressed his daughter's face one last time. "Remember that only our family has the discipline to use the orb in it's current state." He smiled before adding, "And remember. No matter what... I will always love you."

And with that, the helicopter took off, and her father was gone.

Deep beneath the ocean that separated the western continent and the eastern continent, was a chasm too deep for any sub to enter. Too deep for even light to get to. But an earthquake fixed that. Suddenly, a pool of Lifestream was uncovered. It's luminous green glow lit up the bottom of the chasm around it, but not for very far.

Suddenly, a pair of glowing pure red eyes appeared. Slowly, they turned up to the surface, and smiled. The eyes where suddenly traveling at speeds that could only be matched by a rocket leave the earth.

And it had only one thought on it's mind...

And that's that


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The WEAPON Materia**

Order! Order please!" Jim called out. He pounded his gavel. The gathering quieted.

"Thank you." He sighed. "Now I know it's been a while since our Mayor Tifa, or her second in command, Cloud, has been here. But as curator of the Shinra Museum, Town treasurer, and their close friend, I have the responsibility to take over in their absence."

"What about protection? Two more of my cattle have been killed today!" A man in the back stood up and yelled.

Jim nodded. "We all know about the cattle killers, Mr. Frances. But we HAVE to be able to depend on people OTHER than Cloud and Tifa! Have you thought about trying to catch them yourself?" Jim responded.

Mr. Frances thought about this then sat back down.

Then a woman stood up. "What about the thief that took the Cait Sith body from your own museum?"

Jim sighed. They'd all been over this a million times before. "As I have stated before, I personally saw the body come down of it's own accord, and walk out of town."

The woman sat down, but the look in her eyes said that she didn't believe him.

"Anybody else have a monkey up their ass about something?" Jim asked annoyed. 

"What about Tifa and Cloud's weekly story telling? Will that he held this week?" A man asked this. Jim recognized him as the Inn's owner. Jim knew that his children loved the stories that Tifa and Cloud tell. Jim also enjoyed them.

"As you know perfectly well, the weekly storytelling is something that Cloud and Tifa has chosen to do. They never made an agreement with you or anyone else about their story telling. It just sort of started, and everyone enjoyed it, so they continued to do it." Jim finally replied. "Unless they come back in time, I doubt that the story time will take place this week."

A man walked in, and sat in the back. Jim didn't recognize him, but he had other things to do than keep track of newcomers to the meetings. But something about his eyes kept Jim's eyes wandering his direction.

A woman in the front row stood up. "What about the Shinra Mansion Auction?" The crowd cheered this thought on.

Jim motioned for quiet. When it died down, he spoke. "I wanted to wait for when Tifa and Cloud came back, but I guess we can auction it off now." The crowd murmured their approval. "Alrightly then."

Jim started the bid at 2000 Gil.

"2000!" A man shouted.

"4000!" Another man shouted.

"10,000!" A woman shouted.

Before Jim knew it they where up to 3,000,000 Gil. The going price for the mansion's being fixed up being a mere 350,000.

"3,000,005!" A woman shouted.

The bidding grew tense. It was now between 2 men and a woman.

"3,000,010!" The woman grew silent.

"3,000,100!" The other man shouted. The crowd now turned back to the other man, like it was some sort of tennis game. They waited expectantly.

"Uhh... 3,000,110!" He finally shouted. The other man finally grew silent.  
"Well... this seems to be near the end." Jim commented. "As a spokesperson for Cloud and Tifa, I, on their behalf, bid 3,000,200 Gil."

For a moment, no one spoke. "Going once!"

Still no one spoke. "Going Twice!"

"Ten million!" the man in the back shouted. Everyone turned to him. Jim was surprised to see the man finally talk.

Jim looked around. "Anyone want to place a higher bid?" No one spoke up. "Well then, sold! To Mr...?" Jim asked expectantly.

"Talon. You may call me Talon." He said as he walked forward, his red eyes blazing with pride.

Reno, Rude, Elena, and Mark walked their way to Nibelheim, to meet their contact. Suddenly, a large object appeared in the sky. Rude was the first to see it.

"What's that?" He asked as he pointed into the sky. The others followed his finger. 

"I don't see anything." Mark replied.

"Nor I." Added Reno.

Suddenly, the object grew in size. It's descent did not change. It just _grew_!

Elena's voice shook. "I don't know about any of you, bit I DEFIANTLY see that!" 

The object approached them at an incredible speed. It landed not more than a dozen yards away. It stood as tall as the mountains around them, and looked evil enough to kill by merely looking at someone. It was organic, but had a metallic look to it.

Rude, for the first time anyone could remember, had a sense of fear in his voice. "It's a... WEAPON..." He spoke softly for fear it would hear him.

The WEAPON turned it's glaze to Rude. It bent it's huge head down, and took a sniff like a dog. Rude stood still. Not out of fear, but he didn't want to upset this thing.

The WEAPON also sniffed Reno, then Elena. It then turned to Mark, and took a sniff.

When it finished, it reared it's head back, and screamed what sounded like a war cry.

Mark couldn't help it any more. "It's gonna kill me!" He dropped everything, and ran.

The WEAPON materia rolled out of his bag, and intensely glowed for a second.  
Without wasting much time, the WEAPON opened it's shoulders, to reveal two laser ports. It opened it's mouth, and took a deep breath. As he did so, the laser ports began to light up. Suddenly, it released it's energy upon Mark, vaporizing him instantly. The rest of the group just stared at the gaping hole that now existed where Mark had once been. Then they turned their attention back to the WEAPON, awaiting another barrage to finish them off.

The WEAPON just stood there. He looked at the group expectantly.

"What is it waiting for?" Elena finally asked. "Why hasn't it vaporized us too?"

Reno spoke slowly. "I don't know. Just don't anger the thing."

After about 5 or 6 minutes of waiting, the WEAPON turned around, and started to walk away.

The group took a sigh of relief. They watched it go. When it was far enough away, they gathered Mark's stuff. Rude took the WEAPON materia, and put it in his pack.

Suddenly, they heard a BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. They turned around to see the WEAPON heading back their way! They began to run. But the WEAPON caught up with them all too easily. It blocked them off.

They froze. It looked solely at Rude. As it did, it began to change. It took on a more stealthy look. More like what Rude may have developed for a WEAPON.

Rude slowly took out the WEAPON Materia. "I thought that this made the planet think you were a WEAPON." Rude stated.

Reno looked at the WEAPON, then at Rude. "Looks like those old books where wrong."

Reno took another look at the WEAPON. "Try giving it a command."

Rude didn't think it was a good idea to try, but why not? "Sit."

The materia glowed brighter for a second, then WEAPON sat down with enough force to

shake the ground.

Elena had lost her balance, and was now trying to get up. "You mean that thing is under our command?"

"Perhaps." Reno replied. "Stand up!"

The weapon just sat there, looking at Rude.

Elena gave it a try. "Look to the left!"

Still, the weapon stared at Rude.

"Stand up." Rude tried.

The materia glowed, and the WEAPON stood up.

And Rude smiled.

"Still no word was been heard from mayor-elect Reeve, as the time for his acceptance of position nears a close. We would like to remind him that he still has 15 minutes. We will update you at the end of this broadcast. Steve?" The news reporter said.

Cid turned the TV off, and looked at Reeve.

"You gonna call them?" he asked.

Reeve's hands where pressed against each other, the tips of his fingers supporting his nose. The light of the lamp on the nearby table only partially lit his face. After a second, he lowered his hands, and began to speak. "I'm not sure. I've worked so hard to get that position..." 

"But?" Cid anticipated. He rotated his wheelchair so he could see Reeve better. 

"But... In the last few days, I've been reminded of what a REAL adventure is. I've battle monsters, discovered sinister plans, and I'm helping to bring a dear friend back from the dead. A lot of people can become mayor. Even Barret! But not many people can have an adventure like this. I'm just not sure that I want to give up adventures like this, to be a mayor."

Cid wheeled over, and patted him on the shoulders. "Listen. I've been the mayor of Rocket Town ever since it was built. I've only taken a small vacation to help you guys last year. Being the Mayor of even a town the size of this one is kind of fun. But if you feel you would rather not be the center of every reporter's damn camera, you are welcome to stay with me as long as you like." Cid gave Reeve one of his poker smiles, and Reeve also smiled.

"Thanks Cid. Mind if I use your phone?" Reeve asked.

Cid smiled. "Be my guest."

Yuffie waited with Barret, and Tifa for news about her father. Tifa sat with Yuffie and tried to comfort her as best she could, but she wasn't sure what to do.

Barret, on the other hand, was trying to find something to read. He picked up a magazine, and began to flip through it. It took him a few seconds to realize it was one of those teen-girl type magazines. He quickly tossed it onto the table, and began to look for another one.

_Why do doctor's offices hafta have so may un-interesting magazines!_ He thought to himself. He finally gave up, and began to look around. A TV in the corner was turned to the news. Interested, Barret turned his attention to it.

"As we close this news program, we would like to update you on mayor-elect Reeve's acceptance. Barbara?" Steve said.

"Thanks Steve." Barbara said as the picture switched to her. "We have finally received word that mayor-elect Reeve has called in. We can playback a recording of the phone call made not more than 10 minutes ago with his offices."

The TV switched to a picture of Reeve. Underneath, it had text of what Reeve was saying. "I've decided not to accept the position of Mayor of Junon. The reason is that I have found other things that require my immediate attention. I would like to tell everyone that I will run again in a few years, and that I will stress the same issues."

The TV switched back to Barbara. "It is not made clear exactly the reason he decide to decline the position of mayor, but he also stated that he was also looking forward to not being, quote 'the center of every reporter's damn camera.' unquote. Steve?"

Tifa had joined Barret when she had heard Reeve's voice. She poked Barret in the ribs, and he turned his attention away from the TV. Tifa gave him a look that meant "Come on. Yuffie needs us."

"I wonder why he declined being mayor?" Barret asked when they sat down again.   
Tifa was wondering that too. "We'll ask him when we get back." Tifa turned to Yuffie, but noticed that she wasn't sitting next to her. Tifa looked around and finally saw Yuffie not too far away. "Right now..." Tifa nodded towards Yuffie. A doctor had come up to her, and it didn't look like good news. "We have a friend who needs us."

Cloud, Zack, Red, and Vincent stood on the main deck of the Highwind. They had been following the trail of the Turks ever since dropping the rest of the group at Rocket Town. Red was deeply emerged in some book he found, while Vincent seemed content to simply look out the window.

Cloud was busily sharpening and cleaning his sword, when Zack sat down next to him. He unsheathed his sword, and also began to clean and sharpen it. Finally, he turned to Cloud.

"Does everyone hate me?" He asked.

Cloud stopped what he was doing and just stared at Zack. "Why would they hate you?" 

Zack leaned back. "I don't know. But Vincent won't talk to me, and Red asked me not to bother him."

Cloud chuckled at this. Zack didn't see what was so funny. "That's the way they always are." Cloud said with a grin. "Vincent has been locked in a coffin for about 30 years. We where the ones who released him about a year ago. He talks only when he wants too. It's like he's almost emotionally dead."

Zack turned around to look at him. Vincent's velvet cape just hung there, as if it was about to swallow Vincent whole. If Vincent had heard their conversation, which Cloud believed he had, he either didn't show it, or didn't care.

"And Red... Well... Red is the last of his kind. He'll live to be much older than us. He's 58 or so. In his species terms, he's still a teenager. He likes to bury himself in books, as if he wants to know everything there is to know. He's very persistent about it."

"We have another problem." Vincent said solemnly. Zack and Cloud jumped. Vincent had approached them so silently that they didn't detect his presence until he spoke.

"What? What problem?" Cloud asked. Vincent merely led them to the window, and pointed. He didn't have to say a word.

There, ahead of them, was a WEAPON, standing totally still, like a statue. Suddenly, the WEAPON shrank, until it was out of view.

"Land us there!" Cloud commanded. The crew did so.

Reno, Rude, Elena, and Mark watched the airship descend from the heavens. They saw Cloud, Vincent, Red, and one other person jump out. Elena was the only one to recognize the forth person.

"Well, well, well... what brings YOU here?" Reno asked.

"We thought we saw a WEAPON. But instead, we find you. You want to tell us why you attacked Wutai?" Cloud demanded.

Reno smiled, and leaned his baton against his shoulder. "It was purely business. I'm sure you understand, right?"

"No. I don't." Cloud replied. He brought out his sword, and got ready for an attack. "I

don't murder innocent people. I don't burn buildings, and leave them so they can kill women and children!"

Reno smiled again.

They conversed about this and that for a few minutes. But NEVER did Mark say a word.

He just looked at the others, as if waiting for the command to attack.

Suddenly, the conversation turned to the group's new members.

"So Cloud... Who's the look-a-like? You're stand in?" Reno joked.  
"I can answer that." Elena chipped in. She walked up to Zack. "It's good to see you again." She said in a monotone. "I thought you died."

"And I thought you'd be dead by now." Zack replied.

Both Cloud and Reno where shocked at the personal nature they seemed to have. Rude and Vincent where also surprised, but showed no sign of it. Neither Red, nor Mark made a single move.

"So... You finally made it. How's the Turk life?" Zack asked.

"Different than I thought. But still worth it." She replied.

Reno began to speak. "Can someone tell me..."

"... What's going on?" Cloud finished.

Zack and Elena turned to their respective groups. Zack spoke. "This is my younger sister Elena."

"And he's my older brother, Zack." She commented.

Cloud stared unflinchingly at Zack aboard the Highwind.

The Turks had asked for a ride to Nibelheim. Cloud declined, but Red had convinced him otherwise.

"If they have the WEAPON Materia, it will give us time to find out and get it from them." Red had argued.

Cloud didn't like having them aboard the Highwind. Too dangerous.

But Cloud wasn't thinking about that now. He just stared at Zack.

Zack was starting to feel uncomfortable. "Come on Cloud. I told you. I can't control what she does. I told her that I didn't want her to join the Turks 8 years ago. She ran away, and joined them anyway." Zack scratched the back of his head. "I didn't figure she'd make it...

She was only 16 back then..."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Cloud asked softly.

Zack grew tired of this game. "I TOLD YOU! I didn't think she'd make it! I was as surprised as you where!"

Cloud just continued to stare. He did it in such a way, that even Vincent might have looked away. "If it came down to her and us, who would you side with?" Cloud asked point blank.

Zack thought about it. He hated questions like this. He looked over at his sister, who was probably getting the same talk from Reno, guessing from her reactions to Reno's "speech". "I would side with the one that's right. I won't kill my sister, but I'll do what I have to if it means stopping her."

Cloud got up and left without saying a word.

Zack wanted to tell Cloud more, but got the impression that he wanted to be alone for a bit.

Rude and Mark where standing in the Chocobo stable aboard the Highwind. Rude made sure that no one was around, then brought out the WEAPON materia. He took a good look at it, and noticed that a small chunk of it was missing. 

This puzzled Rude. Materia only worked the way it's suppose to when it's whole. But this has a chunk missing. That means...

Rude looked at Mark. Rude knew this wasn't really Mark, but the WEAPON in disguise.

And suddenly, it clicked.

This WAS the WEAPON materia, and it DOES work the way it's suppose to, but it has a chunk missing. That alters the abilities that it has. Instead of appearing as a WEAPON to the planet, it creates a WEAPON you can control.

Rude smiled as he figured this out.

He held out the materia, and asked the WEAPON to talk to him. The materia glowed.

The WEAPON released a low moan, that sounded like a low pitched scream. He had no idea what it was, but he knew that it could bring the whole crew down here.

"Shut up." He commanded. The WEAPON promptly quieted.

But it was too late. 

Red had heard it from the nearby conference room, and came in. _It sounded like the Planet's cries..._ He saw Rude holding a blue materia. "What is that?" He asked.

Rude looked at him. "It's my new All materia."

Red just looked at Mark. "I was talking to him."

Rude didn't know what to do. Mark couldn't speak. It was a WEAPON. Mark looked at Rude. It waited for a command.

"Well... tell him." Rude said.

"It's an All materia." Mark replied.

Rude looked at him with slight surprise. He couldn't believe it... the WEAPON spoke... in English!

Red took a look at the "All" materia. He didn't believe him, but had no reason to distrust what he said. Then Red noticed a chunk of the materia was missing.

A memory flash through Red mind. Of Cloud, and his materia ring he showed him and Bugenhagen. The gem in the ring was about the size of the missing chunk, and it was also blue.

He knew that no All materia would work with a chunk missing. So this had to be...

As casually as he could, Red went off to look for Cloud.

On the main deck, Cloud looked out at the sky. They where almost to Nibelheim. _Almost home. Maybe we should stop by and check on things..._

Cloud's hands felt something in his pocket. He pulled it out, and opened the small case.

The blue gem inside glowed intensely as his thoughts turned to Tifa. He took out the ring and held it up to the fading light of the sun. The gem sparkled and shone brightly against the cloud-filled sky.

In that instant, he knew exactly what would happen if he and Tifa got married. But as quickly as it came, the moment vanished, along with the brief glimpse he had caught of his future.

Cloud shook his head. The vision had been so real...

Cloud lifted the ring to the light again, and thought about Tifa...

The vision didn't come back.

Cloud sighed as he put the ring back.

Suddenly, his thoughts turned to Aeris. He had to admit that he missed her. He knew the Turks where no good, but he knew they might have the one thing that would help bring

Aeris back to him.

"Cloud?"

Cloud turned around and saw that Red had joined him. "What is it Red?"

Red walked up, and sat next to him. "We have a small problem. The WEAPON materia is aboard this ship. And the Turks have it."

Godo's eyes slowly opened. As he did, he could barely make out the figure standing next to him. It appeared to be sitting in a chair, with one hand supporting it's head. Godo let out a low moan.

The figure's head popped up. "Dad?" It asked.

Godo recognized the voice, but couldn't place it. "Who's there?"

"Dad. It's me! Yuffie." The figure replied.

Suddenly, everything dawned on him. "Yuffie?" He finally asked. "What happened? I remember three men and a woman, they wanted the family materia, we fought, then I was knocked out."

Yuffie smiled that her father was alive. The doctors had told her that if he woke up within a few hours, he'd would make it. Yuffie decided to sit by him and wait. But she thought of none of that.

"The Turks attacked Wutai. They nearly destroyed it. But they left with some sort of materia." Yuffie answered. "Dad? Is that the WEAPON materia?"

This surprised Godo. "How do you know about the WEAPON materia?"

Yuffie explained their plan to bring back Aeris, and how the WEAPON materia would negate the effects of the _Materia of Destiny_.

"But... was that the WEAPON materia?" She asked again.

Godo nodded. "But... it doesn't work that way anymore. Long ago, someone stole it from our family, and wanted to create jewelry out of it. They'd managed to get a piece off of it, before my father and I found them, and brought it back. But we never found the ring it was made into. It's probably still out there."

Yuffie digested this information. "If we were to find the missing section, and put it back into the WEAPON materia, would it work correctly?"

Godo was able to manage a nod before he started back into sleep. "Go. Be careful. In it's current state, the welder of that materia is almost unstoppable. You must find and rejoin the two pieces in order to save your friend."

Without making a sound, Yuffie nodded her head, and left the room. Godo just fell back into his dreamy sleep.

Reno couldn't believe his ears. "What do you mean, you can't land!" He asked exasperated.

The crewman just looked at him and shrugged his shoulders. "I just got a call from Cloud that I wasn't suppose to land. You'll have to take it up with him." The crewman turned back to his duties.

Reno cursed, and went after Cloud.

Elena, Rude and Mark had joined them. In the main hanger, they where met by Cloud, Zack, Vincent and Red.

"Why won't you land the ship!" Reno spat at Cloud.

"There's something that you have that we need." Cloud responded.

Reno mocked surprise. "Now what could we have that you want?"

Red spoke up. "How about the WEAPON materia for a start."

Reno continued to play dumb. "WEAPON materia? What's that?"

Vincent now spoke up. "A piece of materia that would be too dangerous in the hands of people like you and your kind."

Reno was about to continue, but he knew that they were seeing through his charade. He smiled slyly. "Maybe we have it, and maybe we don't. What's it worth to you?"

Cloud had had enough of this game. "Hand it over now!"

"What... is... it... worth... to... you?" Reno replied, emphasizing each word. 

Zack also grew tired of this charade. "How about the life of a friend. Is that a high enough?"

Reno didn't understand this answer. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter! Just give us the WEAPON Materia!" Zack replied.

Elena was getting jumpy. "Reno, why don't we just finish these guys off?"

Reno smiled at the enthusiasm of Elena. "Because if we DID fight here, we'd most likely damage something that keeps us up in the air, and we'd all die."

Reno turned his attention back to Cloud. "I'd love to continue this, but we have a meeting to get to. So if you'd so kindly lower the ship, we'll be on our way."

Cloud saw the logic in what he said. Fighting was out of the question. He knew they'd just have to get the WEAPON materia another day.

Suddenly, the Highwind rocked as if hit from the side. Everyone lost their balance.   
In the control room, crew members scramble diligently to steady the ship. Another hit made people go flying. Operators where yelling back and forth about some kind of strange turbulence, and they where barking orders to get the ship straightened again.

Back in the main room, Reno had hit his head, and was unconscious. Elena was shaking it off, when she noticed Rude. He was hanging from the side of the walkway. Below him, machinery grinded, and turned. On a ledge, not to far away, was the WEAPON materia. Rude reached for it, but it was too far away. He felt his grip on the side going. Suddenly, a strong hand grabbed his. He looked up, and saw that Vincent now held onto him. Vincent pulled Rude out of his precarious position.

Red noticed the materia, and jumped to a ledge not far away. He gripped it, and put it with his materia, then jumped back.

He then got the materia, and handed it to Rude. "I believe this is yours."

"So. We're back to square one." Barret commented.

The others had returned to Rocket Town, to tell them the news.

Red smiled. "Not so." He took out a materia, and handed it to Cloud.

"What is this Red?" Cloud asked.

Red just smiled. "How about the WEAPON materia?"

Cloud looked at Red with a smile. "Why you sly thing! You switched materia on Rude?" 

"Yep. He told me earlier that it was an All materia, and that's exactly what it is."

The group laughed, and complimented Red on his trickery.

Yuffie looked at the orb. "So that's the WEAPON materia?"

"Hands off runt!" Barret barked. "We need that!"

Yuffie turned to him, and gave him a harsh look. "For your information, that materia belongs to MY family! In every aspect, it belongs to me!" 

Yuffie and Barret argued about this for a while, during which, Red walked up to Cloud and Tifa.

"Cloud. Do you still have the ring?" Red asked.

Tifa looked at Cloud with an odd look. "Ring? What ring?"

Cloud looked at her sheepishly. He pulled out a black box. He opened it to reveal the ring he had bought. Tifa took a look at that, and almost melted! In front of her was a golden ring, with a shiny blue gem in the center of it that seemed to glow.

"I... bought this about 6 months ago at Wutai." Cloud explained. "I showed it to Red and Bugenhagen, and they discovered that the gem is really some sort of materia." Cloud shrugged. "It's the reason I originally left. I wanted sometime to think... about marriage."

"Marriage?" Tifa asked. "Oh Cloud!" Her heart melted at the thought of Cloud wanting to marry her.

"However," Red interrupted. "That stone is the missing piece of this WEAPON Materia."  
Tifa wince in emotional pain as Cloud took the ring's gem out, and placed it into the missing chunk of the WEAPON materia.

A bright light emitted from the spot where they joined. The group had to squint, but when the light faded, the materia was whole, without a sign of it being chipped off.

The group looked at it. Silence encompassed the whole group. Finally, Cid looked at them all and broke the silence. "Well... all we have to do is get the _Materia of Destiny_. Any ideas where it is?"

Jim couldn't believe it. Here he was, worrying about everything that had gone wrong since Cloud and Tifa left, and everything was now perfectly fine.

Talon had done a lot for them. First, he buys the Shinra Mansion, at a ludicrous price, then he captures the cattle killers, then ever offers to tell stories at the Inn.

It was almost too good to be true. Jim smelled something fishy.

He'd been to the Shinra Mansion since Talon bought it, and he noticed a lot. Such as Talon was turning it into some sort of corporate headquarters, or at least a branch of it.

What worried him the most was that Talon had a secret meeting with four newcomers. Jim had followed Talon, and listened in. He was surprised when he figured out who the newcomers where! They where the famous Turks that Cloud and Tifa often talked about. They worked for whoever paid them. And it was usually not for the good guys.

What was worse was that he saw them give Talon a materia, and Talon had laughed with a demonic laugh. It was the sort of laugh that meant "I now have the power to control the world!"

Jim was sure that Talon wasn't the nice person he'd portrayed himself to be. But he didn't have any proof.

So he would have to get some...

"Cloud?"

Zack walked over to his friend as they looked around in the darkness. Cloud looked at him, then nodded in acknowledgement.

"See her yet?" Zack asked.

"Not yet." Cloud replied. He had been hoping Aeris would show them where this other temple was, but she had yet to show up in this dream.

Suddenly, she appeared out of the darkness.

_Finally!_ Cloud thought impatiently. "Took her long enough." He mumbled under his breath. He took a step forward, and looked at Aeris. "Where is the other temple?" he asked.

Aeris at first looked surprised, but the look quickly vanished from her face, as she looked beneath Cloud and Zack.

Tentatively, they also looked down. They saw the world rotating beneath their feet. At first, they where worried that they would fall, but they didn't.

Slowly, the world got larger, and larger, until Cloud and Zack could see individual towns.

They came down, and flew around the world, visiting every town, until they finally stopped at Gongaga. They both looked at Aeris, but she just smiled. They continued their descent INTO the ground! After several seconds, they came out into a cavern that looked similar to both the City of the Ancients, and the Temple of the Ancients, but was MUCH bigger!

They only caught a glimpse of it, before they where blinded by a white light.

When the light died, they did NOT expect to be hovering around the world again. The both looked at Aeris, as she looked upon the planet turning in the complete darkness of their current existence.

Cloud looked at Zack. "Does that mean what I think it means?" He asked.

Zack shrugged his shoulders in reply. "I'm not sure. But we know what to do when we wake up."

Another white light blinded both of them. When Cloud could see again, he saw a version of himself, like he was watching a movie. He looked around, and saw himself floating above the ground. Zack was still with him. The both floated over to the other Cloud. They then turned their attention to Aeris. She looked at the other Cloud and smiled. Suddenly, a vortex of swirling colors burst into existence. A man walked out of it. He wore a demonic smile as he skewered Aeris through her back. Aeris slumped forward.

Both Clouds and Zack looked at the man who had done it.

There was a man there, wearing all black, and had long, black hair. His eyes glowed, but they glowed an evil shade of red. He smiled at Cloud, then turned to face Cloud and Zack. He smiled again, then killed the other Cloud. The rest of the group came up behind the other Cloud, and the man with the red eyes only took a few swipes and the rest of the group fell down dead. He laughed a demonic laugh that could only be matched by Sephiroth himself.

The man disappeared back into the swirling vortex of brilliant blues, yellows and purples.

His laugh echoed in their ears until both Cloud and Zack woke up screaming.

Cid looked at where he'd been a few minutes ago. He was amazed he had come this far! He used all his might to move his leg a little bit more forward. He felt such a surge of pride, that he almost lost his balance.

Fortunately, Shera was right next to him, to help him if he fell.

Cid had been working at getting the use of his legs back, ever since he had gotten home. They where working a little bit more a day. _Today..._ He thought, _I'm going to the end of these bars!_ He looked at the distance he had to go to reach the end. It was at least a good few steps. _If I could walk normally again._ Cid thought. He could only move his legs about an inch to 4 inches at a time.

Dr. Ganzgo, who had moved to Rocket Town to help Cid, was amazed at Cid's determination and his process. He had surpassed the time table which Dr. Ganzgo had set up. He was a full month and a half ahead of schedule, and only going faster!

Cid had demanded to use the bars several times. He worked on it day and night. Whenever he had a hour to spare, or whenever he had time to think of what he was probably missing, he wanted to use the bars. He sometimes did it when no one was around to help, but he never told Shera that. It would only upset her.

Cid took another step forward. Shera was by his side, encouraging him to take another big step. Cid gladly obliged. It took him a few minutes, but Cid had finally gotten to the end of the bars!

Shera brought his wheelchair over, and offered it to him, but Cid refused.

"Now... I go back to the other side." He stated. "Alone. No help." 

Shera was worried about this, but she knew how stubborn Cid could get, so she let him. 

Cid started his way back. He made it halfway, before he slipped. He crashed onto the floor with a loud thud.

Shera was by his side, before he could push himself up. She helped him into his wheel chair, and pushed him by the TV. "Next time, let me help!" She scorned.

Cid just nodded, and wrapped up in his fuzzy blanket.

It had been almost a day since Cloud and the others had left for Gongaga. He wished he could have gone, but he knew that he would only slow them down. And there was no telling what kind of dangers they would have to protect him from. If a monster were to suddenly attack Cid in this state, he would have to hope that his hand eye co-ordination could make up for his fancy footwork.

Shera had gone to get him a cup of tea, when there was a knock at the door.

Cid looked at the door from beneath his blanket. "Who is it?"

"Rocket Pizza, We deliver!" a female voice said.

Cid didn't remember ordering a pizza. Maybe Shera did it... "Come in."

A woman walked in. She wore all blue, and carried a bag of pizza that said Rocket Pizza on the side.

But Cid knew she wasn't from the pizza place for 2 reasons. 1: Rocket Pizza always sends complimentary Rocket Soda in their Rocket Soda 32 ounce mug, which she did not seem to be carrying, and 2: Reno and Rude where close behind her.

Elena tossed the pizza bag at Cid. "We need to talk."

Aeris walked down her corridor for what had to be the 24th time. She looked at the stain-glass windows that comprise her life. She had been surprised to find out that this was what her corridor had been, since she barely looked at stain-glass windows.

Aeris did admit that they had always struck her fancy, but never this much. She was expecting something more like a float parade or something.

But she'd already thought of this. She was here for a specific reason... and she was getting closer. She was looking for the reason that she was still here. The reason she had not crossed over.

She had already looked at her life, and made the judgement that she regretted nothing. She should have crossed over. But she hadn't. And now she was here to discover why.

Aeris had looked at her life again, and continued down to the scenes of her death. She was thankful that there were little displays, saying what people had said during that scene of her life. She looked at the window of this scene, which showed her being ran though by Sephiroth's sword, while Cloud watched in horror.

She frowned, and shook her head. Nothing. She hadn't found a single thing that would have kept her here.

She was about to start again, when she noticed something in a nearby wall. She took a closer look at it. It appeared to be a hidden door.

Unsure, Aeris walked forward, and opened the door. It was completely dark. Her hand fumbled for a light switch, but found nothing. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and walked it.

The door slammed shut behind her, leaving her in total darkness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Revival**

The Watcher looked at the Light One. He was still weak, but he looked like he'd be ready to fight in a minute or two. The Watcher turned her attention to the Dark One. He was standing up.

He grabbed his sword, and walked over to the Light One. He quickly brought his sword up to the Light One's throat. "I've been waiting a long time for this. I will Exist. And you... will be in pain like you've never felt before!"

The Dark One raised his sword over his head. He smiled. "Say goodnight!" The Dark One brought his sword down.

A loud "Chink" of metal on metal filled the room. The Dark One saw a long metal staff, blocking his sword from entering the Light One's head. He followed the pole up to the owner.

The Watcher's green eyes burned with a fire that only the Devil himself could rival. Her whole body filled with a fury that couldn't be vanquished. It seemed as if her stare alone was piercing the very existence of the Dark One's spirit.

She twisted her staff around, which flung the Dark One's sword away. She unleashed her fury at the Dark One. She brought her staff down upon him, one brutal blow after another. The Watcher quickly brought her staff up against the Dark One's head for what she thought to be a final blow. 

When the Dark One landed, he noticed his sword was nearby. He grabbed it, and stood up. He readied his sword, and began to attack the watcher.

His sword made quick, decisive moves, but the Watcher blocked most of them. After a brutal swing from the Dark One's sword, the Watcher rotated around, and hit the Dark One in the back with all the power she could muster. 

The Dark One fell to his knees. He gasped for air, but found none. The Watcher approached him, very cautiously. Suddenly, the Dark One grabbed her leg, and flung her to the floor. He pounced on her, and held her body down with his. He grabbed his sword, and held it at her throat.

"I don't have to worry about killing you. So I won't." He smiled a demonic smile as he raised his sword. Then he brought it down quickly.

Aeris smiled at Cloud. The glowing light of the City of the Ancients surrounded them. Cloud regarded her for a moment, before he noticed something behind her.  
A vortex of unimaginable power had burst into existence behind Aeris. A flash of light preceded the appearance of a man. Cloud couldn't believe what he saw. The man resembled Sephiroth, with a few differences. Talon stood before Cloud and Aeris as he slowly drew his sword. His brightly-glowing, blood red eyes smiled at Cloud demonically as his long black hair flew over his body by the winds that escaped from the mouth of the portal.

Talon smiled as he raised his sword. Suddenly, another figure burst out of the vortex, and tackled him. Talon and the new man wrestled on the floor for a few seconds, until the other man flung Talon's sword away. Talon rolled towards it, while the other man got up. Cloud was shocked to see a mirror image of himself.

"I won't let you change the past Talon!" The older Cloud roared, as he ran up, sword drawn and attacked Talon. Their swords clanged together in a brilliant burst of sparks. The force with which they attacked each other was like none that the young Cloud had ever experienced. Suddenly, the elder Cloud brought his sword down, and was somehow able to grab Talon's arms, and hold him in a headlock.

Talon just smiled as he struggled out of Cloud's grip, and bursted away. "You can't stop me! No one can stop me!" The two circled each other, each other, their swords ready.

Cloud almost froze when he realized where he was. He quickly looked around, and noticed WHEN they were! It was when Sephiroth killed Aeris. And that's when Cloud heard it. The same dark whoosh that had come with Sephiroth's arrival. The sound was quickly followed by the sickly sound of Sephiroth's sword entering flesh. He looked over to see that Sephiroth had killed Aeris. Again.

As he watched his younger self see Aeris murdered in cold blood, Cloud felt the feelings that had remained hidden for over a year.

All the anger... All the pain... All the anguish... It flooded his body like a tidal wave. But what had surprised him the most, was the love he still had for Aeris, and the dreaded sense of loss that came with it. It hadn't been until she was gone that he realized he had those feelings. It poured through his soul, adding to the pain, and the anger. Cloud was amazed that he still felt that strongly about her.

He watched this scene play out as it had before, when he felt a presence behind him. He turned just in time to bring his sword up and block Talon's. Cloud didn't need to see the scene to know what was happening. As he battled Talon, he ran the scene through his mind again, and again. Slowly, he felt a rage inside him swell.

Cloud brought his sword down and cut Talon across the arm. Talon briefly studied the wound, then turned his attention back to the fight. When he had a chance, Cloud looked at his younger self. That's when Cloud noticed that Sephiroth was gone. That was also when Cloud realized he couldn't hold his anger any more, and so he released his rage in one all powerful, earsplitting roar. All the anger, all the agony, all the hatred he had hidden for over a year escaped his lips with a fury all their own.

The roar penetrated everyone that was nearby. It passed through them like a chill going up their spine. It was so loud that the younger versions of his friends had to cover their ears. So did Talon, and his younger self. Even the newly arrived Jenova monster seemed to be affected by this young man's scream of anger.

Cloud's fury only made the battle more difficult for Talon. Cloud let his mind go. He just attacked. He recalled battling Talon until Talon's sword disappeared. Talon, his sword gone, also disappeared. His enemy gone, Cloud turned his attention to the Jenova monster. His anger suddenly burst into his hands, which tore away at Jenova's body. Minutes flew by, without Cloud even noticing.

When Cloud had beaten Jenova into a bloody pulp, he turned around and looked for Talon again. Cloud took a good look around. He was shocked to discover that Talon was nowhere in sight. Slowly, Cloud's anger began to melt.

Suddenly, Talon appeared behind the Avalanche party, his sword ready to slice the group in half. Cloud had to think fast! Suddenly, Talon's sword was cut in half by Cloud's sword. Talon looked at Cloud. He had thrown his sword to break Talon's. Talon turned his attention back to his sword, which was now a stub. He was dumbstruck. He hadn't expected anything like this to happen! He didn't have a back up plan, and fighting them by hand wasn't an option.

Finally, he smiled. He knew when he was beaten. "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day." And with that, he jumped in front of the time vortex. "Oh, and one more thing... **TOTAL DAMAGE**!" 

Dark colors began to swirl around Talon as Cloud realized he had just casted a summon spell! Cloud quickly casted several defensive spells around his younger self, and his friends.

After the dark colors had collected, a huge flash of light appeared, followed by the appearance of a small creature. At first, it looked docile, but after a second, it grew large teeth, and sharp claws. Cloud knew that this was no ordinary summon spell. With a ferocity and a speed that few could hope to follow, the creature began it's attack against everyone. Cloud tried to take as much damage as he could, but even he couldn't block everything. He was going to cast some healing spells, when he notice that the group was already doing that. They even casted a few spell on him. He was grateful, but now was not the time to say so.

Just when Cloud thought it was the end, the creature mutated, and attacked again. Only this time, it was MUCH more powerful. Cloud quickly began to tire out. His defensive spells where almost gone, and he was too tired to cast any more. Fortunately, the younger group began to cast some massive healing spells on him. After a few casts, and a few deflected attacks, Cloud felt more powerful than ever. And right when the monster was about to attack him again, Cloud took his sword, and thrusted it upwards, through the creature's spinal column. It collapsed into a breathing pile of rotting flesh, and vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Cloud breathed heavily for a few moments. When he was ready, he looked for Talon. But even a quick glance around showed that he had disappeared. That's when Vincent pointed to the vortex. Talon had escaped through there. 

Cloud ran up to the vortex, then stopped. He then turned around to face his younger self, leaning over Aeris' lifeless body. The young Cloud looked at him, almost on the verge of tears, and Cloud knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Don't worry." Cloud said. "Her death is not in vain." And with that, Cloud leapt into the vortex, which closed rapidly behind him.

Reeve walked back and forth. He mumbled to himself. He couldn't accept that the little girl from the field was Aeris. It was impossible.

He looked at Cait Sith again, but he was busy shuffling his tarot cards. Reeve began to think that it was either a joke, or a fluke. _Cait Sith is usually wrong about these things._ He thought. _But what if he's right?_ Reeve began to think it was a fluke. He was walking over to Cait Sith to see if they could duplicate this "fluke", when very softly, Cait Sith began to speak.

"Reeve? We have company." Reeve turned to Cait Sith for an explanation, but Cait Sith told him to act as if he heard nothing. "I noticed them a while ago. Three people. Hiding behind some bushes."

Reeve, still pacing, just nodded. "How long?"

Cait Sith finished shuffling his cards, then put them away. "I noticed them about 10 minutes ago. They could have been there longer."

"Any ideas who they are?" Reeve afforded a quick, casual look around. Suddenly, he saw the sun reflect off of something shiny. And for a moment, he thought he saw dark blue. It added up to only one thing. "Turks!" Reeve cursed silently. "Three of them, you say. That leaves one more."

Cait Sith turned to him with a quizzical stare. "What do you mean? There's only three Turks."

Reeve shook his head. "Not anymore. They recruited a new member. I don't know anything about him." Reeve took another casual look. "He could be anywhere."

"Why not rush them? I can take the damage, and you can cast a few fire spells." Cait Sith asked.

Reeve shook his head. "No good. They still outnumber us 2-to-1. Besides. We need to stop anyone from going into the cave. If we fight them, then someone could sneak in. Like the fourth member."

Cait Sith's face filled with curiosity. "If that was their plan, why wait until we'd see them? Why not simply attack us?"

Reeve thought about that. "I don't know. Perhaps their fourth member isn't in position yet." Reeve shook his head, and looked at Cait Sith. "In any case, we will wait for them to attack, or the group to emerge. Then we-"

Reeve was interrupted by the sight of a man running out of the cave. His long black hair intermingling with his black uniform. He almost made it out of reach when the Turks popped up and surprised the man.

Reeve and Cait Sith jumped into battle postures, until they noticed that the man said something to the Turks, then ran off. After a few seconds to reflect, the Turks turned away, and left.

"Ok. NOW I'm confused!" Reeve stated.

Cloud emerged from the swirling vortex of colors just as it closed.

Most of the group was getting up. Vincent was the only one who was really standing. All of them had a bruise or a cut.

Vincent turned to Cloud. "He attacked us. Quickly, then left." Vincent rubbed his arm where the metal joined with the flesh. Cloud noticed a cut running up his arm from where the metal began. "He surprised us. I think he only wanted to delay us until he could escape."

Cloud absorbed this information has he helped the others get up. "Well, we'll catch up to him later. We have more important things to worry about." Cloud walked over and touched the _Materia of Destiny_. It glowed at his touch. He felt a tingling fall all over him, as if pure energy was tickling every inch of his body. Cloud carefully took the _Materia of Destiny_ and placed it with his other materia.

"So... What now? We gonna sit here all day?" Barret asked annoyed.

"Barret's right. Let's go." Tifa stated. "We have what we need. Aeris is as good as brought back!" She said with a smile.

The group nodded, or said that they also agreed. All except Zack. He was facing away from the group, lost in his own thoughts. His mind swirled with ideas, feelings, emotions, and a thousand other things. Suddenly, he was broken out of his trance by a hand placed on his shoulder. Zack turned around to look into Tifa's brown eyes.

Tifa smiled at him as her eyes sparkled. "Come on Zack! We're going." Tifa left the room to catch up with the group.

Zack turned around and looked at the room. His massive sword gleamed in the lights of this mysterious room. He could feel something... something... evil. As if they where going on a path that was leading them into the fiery pits of Hell.

As carefully as he could, Zack left the room and caught up with the others.

"Talon!" Reno yelled.

The Turks studied Talon, ready for the battle that would occur. But it didn't.

Talon took a second to look at them, then turned away. "You services will no longer be needed." Talon smiled as he raced off. He would have simply killed them, but he was in a rush.

The Turks exchanged looks. Rude made a motion that meant "Should we follow him?" After a moment, Reno shook his head, turned, and walked off. Rude just shrugged, and followed him. Elena, confused as hell, ran after them to catch up.

Reeve didn't like it. He wouldn't believe that the Turks would just walk off. He stood battle ready until the Turks turned the corner, and was out of sight. He didn't like this at all.

Behind the rock face, Elena turned to Reno. "So why are we leaving?"

Reno just walked on, as if he hadn't heard her, with his hands in his pockets. After a moment, he stopped. He turned around and found a small pile of rocks grouped in a circle. He walked over and sat on the biggest one. Rude and Elena gathered around him, like young ones would gather around a storyteller.

Reno took a deep breath before he began. "Talon is one of the best fighters on the planet. He also wanted the _Materia of Destiny_. If it was down there, he would have it now. But since he did not have it, I can only assume that Cloud has it."

Rude exchanged looks with Elena.

Reno continued. "If Cloud has it, it means he intends to use it. And since he has the WEAPON materia, he can't really be stopped. Therefore, I say we simply follow him, and wait him out. After he's done with it, we'll take it from him, along with the WEAPON materia, and use it ourselves."

Elena looked at him. "Why would we want it? What does it do?"

Reno smiled. "It grants the user one wish. That means each of us will get one wish." 

Elena giggled. "It will give us anything we want?" Reno nodded. "Ohh! I know what I want to wish for!"

Reno's smile just got bigger. "Me too." He turned and looked at Rude. "And what of you, old friend?"

Rude just sat there, with his arms folded. He did not move a muscle for about a minute.

Finally he faced Reno and adjusted his glasses. "Yes."

Elena's curiosity got the better of her. "Rude? You? What would you wish for?" Rude turned his head to face Elena, and two simple words. "Don't ask." Elena was confused by this answer, and looked to Reno for help. Reno rolled his eyes. "He's not going to tell us, so just don't ask."

"Yee haw!" Cid yelled onboard the Highwind.

It had been a long flight to get Cid, then to get to the Forgotten City before nightfall.  
And since they where all so thrilled at the thought of having their dear friend Aeris back, they decided to throw a little party.

Cid was glugging all the booze with Barret. They where both singing and laughing and having a good time. Yuffie was playing "Pin the tail on the Chocobo" with Zack and the pilot. The engineers, Reeve and Cait Sith where playing charades, and the rest of the Highwind's crew where just having a great time doing anything they could, other than work!

Tifa looked around at her friends, and smiled.

She was leaning against a wall, watching her friends have a great time. She knew that tomorrow morning was the big day. She was excited too, but she didn't feel like partying. A while ago, she had noticed Cloud wasn't around. She wondered where he was. Slowly, she got up, and began to look for Cloud. She walked out to the main deck, and saw Cloud standing about 50 feet away.

Cloud stood before the Forgotten City, the doorway to the City of the Ancients. Cloud looked up as the stars passed overhead. He loved to just watch the stars sometimes. That's when Cloud heard the footsteps of someone walking up to him.

"Hey Tifa." He said without turning to look at her.

"Hi Cloud." She answered. She wrapped her arms around herself to fend off the cold.

"Sure is a beautiful night."

"Yep."

A long silence is passed between them, as they searched the heavens. Finally, Tifa turned to Cloud and asks him the question she had wanted to know for over a year.

"Cloud?"

"Hmm?"

Tifa paused as she collected her courage. "Are you still in love with Aeris?" 

Cloud had been dreading this question. He wasn't totally sure himself. He and Tifa had shared a lot in the past year. Their friendship had grown into genuine love. He had gone to the ends of the world for her, and he would again.

But what of Aeris? She had captured his heart in Midgar, and the love they shared had only gotten stronger as their relationship grew. He could not deny those feelings for her.  
But when Aeris died, it was as if a part of him went dead, as if she was the only woman for him. And it was worse when he had re-lived that moment earlier that day. It was as if he was feeling the same pain over again, multiplied by a factor of 30.

"Yes. I guess I still am in love with her." Cloud finally answered as he turned to face her.

Tifa's face dropped. It looked like her heart had been crushed.

But then Cloud added, "But no matter how much I love her," he began as he moved closer to her. "It feels like only a fraction of the love I feel for you."

Tifa's face rose, and she gave him a great big kiss. Afterwards, she slowly made her way back to the Highwind in a sort of dreamy state.

_Whoa! Good one Cloud. But I'm not sure if even I believe what I just said._ Cloud thought when he was alone. Slowly, he turned his attention back to the stars. It was true that he really loved Tifa... but he had spent the past year living with her.

Aeris has been dead. Dead! But now... Aeris is about to be brought back to life. Will their love also re-ignite as easily?

And if so, what was he going to tell Tifa?

Cloud sighed. He knew, one day, he would have to choose who he loved more. Aeris, or Tifa...

Red pour though book after book. "_Karua Hembo Forlay_... Damnit! What does it mean!" Red mumbled to himself.

Vincent had also taken up a few books, and was carefully paging though them, in search of an answer.

Finally, Red harrumphed in disgust. "I've read so many books, I don't even remember what he originally said!"

"_Jabra Kokjo Murki Talms Matria ij Disnijk. Karua Hembo Forlay Esua Invika Trika_." Vincent recited coolly.

Red sighed. "Any idea what it means?"

"Not yet." 

Red sighed again. "I think I figured out what the first part means. It's roughly, 'All-powerful _Materia of Destiny_.' But I'm not totally sure. And I can't even find any of the words for the second part!"

Vincent brought his gaze up from the book. "Does it matter? As long as it works?" 

Red turned to look at Vincent. "I'd like to know what we're having Cloud say. We don't want him to give his life so Aeris can have hers back, do we?" 

Vincent turned a page in his book. "I doubt that's true. If so, Talon's life would have been taken for his wish."

Red sat back and stared off into space as if he had come upon a revelation. "You know... You're right! Why am I wasting my time, trying to figure out what words from some forgotten language mean, when we know it works!" Red stormed off in search of a cozy spot to curl up and sleep.

Vincent just continued to read his book.

It was a very interesting book. Not at all like what he usually reads. It was an old book about this pirate that finds the ultimate treasure, but after he buries it, he kills his crew, and lives for 5 years as a monk. Afterwards, the pirate gets another crew together to re-claim his treasure. They where about to land on the island again, when a hand closed the book.

Vincent was so startled, he actually jumped.

"Whoa! Sorry to startle you, Vince, old buddy!" Cid told him. "But it's time. They're going down now. I could use some help if it's not too much of a problem...?"

Vincent gave him the equivalent of a smile, and helped Cid off the Highwind. Vincent was surprised to discover that it was morning already. He simply put it down that he was engrossed in the book. With a shrug of indifference, he accompanied Cid into the Forgotten City.

Cloud and the rest of the group waited just before the stairs for them. When they where all there, they descended the stairs into the City of the Ancients.

The Dark One's face was filled with pain, as a sword pierced his chest and blocked his sword from hitting the Watcher's head. The pain was so immense, that the Dark One dropped his sword, and clutched the one that filled his chest with the pain.

The Watcher peered over the Dark One's head to see that the Light One had skewered the Dark One with his sword. A fierce determination was in the Light One's eyes. A fiery anger that would not be controlled.

"The Time has come!" The Light One said in a very evil voice. "And you shall not Exist!"  
He withdrew his sword, and the Dark One crumpled over in pain.

"Come on... where are you..." Zack mumbled.

They had been searching the city for over 20 minutes for the door that would lead them to the secret chamber.

So far, no one had found a thing, except a few bones from the Jenova creature.

"Hey! Cloud! I think I found it!" Yuffie suddenly yelled.

Everyone ran over, and looked around. Sure enough, there was door hidden in the wall. "There must be a switch or something-" Cloud started as he ran his hands around the door's frame.

Suddenly, the door whooshed open as Zack placed his arm on the wall. He looked at where he had placed his hand. There looked to be some sort of ancient secret panel there.

The group gathered around and looked into this secret room.

From the door, there was a marble path that lead to the center platform of the room. The platform was surrounded by a deep pit. As they looked into the pit, they could see a pool of what looked like liquid Materia and Lifestream, a few miles below them.

The little ledge before the path was big enough for the group to comfortably occupy. Slowly, Cloud walked up to the platform, and took out both the WEAPON Materia and the _Materia of Destiny_.

He took a deep breath before continuing.

The Dark One looked at the Light One with an evil stare. In an instant, the two were fighting like they had never fought before! And the speed at which they fought was almost too fast to watch.

Waves of energy emanated from where their swords collided.

The Watcher could only stand back and watch the events unfold before her.

Cloud looked at the _Materia of Destiny_. He concentrated on the task at hand, and began to recite the words that Vincent and Red had taught him to say. 

"_Jabra Kokjo Murki Talms Matria ij Disnijk! Karua Hembo Forlay Esua Invika Trika_." 

The silver orb in his hands began to glow, and at the same time, the WEAPON materia glowed. The silver orb suddenly began to float before Cloud.

**"_Nor Par Tellemar_. What is your desire?"** It asked.

Cloud had dreamed of this moment, and now that it was here, he could hardly believe it.

"I want to bring a friend of mine back from the dead!"

**"Who do you wish brought back?"** asked the silver orb.

Cloud took a deep breathe. "My good friend, Aeris Gainsborough."

**"Your wish is as you command."** The orb replied.

Cracks of energy echoed though out the room. The _Materia of Destiny_ began to fluctuate and ripple. Suddenly, a pillar of energy from the pool below engulfed the platform. After a few moments, a dark opening formed. Cloud looked into it, and could see colors he couldn't even name. But it was breathtaking none the less.

Slowly, he walked back out of the pillar of energy to join his friends on the ledge, as the opening got bigger, and moved towards them a bit.

The Dark One and the Light One stopped battling, as a portal opened in their realm, flooding them all in brilliant colors.

Terror gripped the Light One. "No! Too soon!"

But it was too late. 

The Watcher was being pulled into the portal, against her will. It was as if a powerful wind was sucking her into the portal. But this "wind" didn't seem to effect the Light One or the Dark One at all.

The Dark One, looking at the portal, then back at the Light One, formed an idea. He quickly punched the Light One, distracting him, and jumped though the portal.

When the Watcher was almost in the portal, she looked back to the Light One. "Give me your hand!" She yelled over the winds.

The Light One was a little reluctant, but grabbed her hand, and held on.

The group took a few steps back as the opening seemed to be getting more unstable every moment it was open.

Suddenly a figure burst out of the opening in a burst of light.

When the light faded, the group looked at the new comer, expecting to see Aeris.

The figure stood up, and the group let out a gasp as they came face to face with Sephiroth!

Sephiroth looked around, and laughed. "I EXIST!"

Without another word, Sephiroth rose into the air, and flew out of the room. The group, in confusion, ran outside the city after Sephiroth, to see if they had seen what they thought they had seen. If so, their adventure had just become more troublesome.

Cloud however, had remained behind. He lower his head in both disappointment and anger, when another figured burst though the opening. Cloud turned towards the newcomer, and was delighted to see Aeris. However, her arm was still inside the portal.

"Help me! We need to pull him though!" Aeris told him.

Cloud didn't hesitate for a second. He quickly rushed up and helped pull Aeris's arm though the opening. They both gave it a hard tug, and flew backwards as another flash of light appeared.

When she could sit up, Aeris found herself in Cloud's lap. Aeris smiled weakly as she realized the ramifications of this situation.

Cloud looked at Aeris and smiled. He couldn't believe how happy he was to see her. "Aeris... It's... good to have you back." Cloud looked deep into Aeris' eyes. As he did so, all of the love he had felt for her flooded every inch of his body. He was almost overwhelmed. "I've... missed you."

Aeris looked into his eyes, and blushed. "So have I."

Cloud and Aeris' lips almost touched. But they pulled away at the last second, finally getting a grip on the situation.

Aeris tried to break the unusual stillness. "I've brought someone from the other side to help us stop Sephiroth."

"Who?" Cloud asked.

Aeris looked towards their new visitor, who shook his head and grabbed his sword.

Cloud followed her gaze and was shocked when he saw another Sephiroth, wearing all white, standing before him.


	9. Chapter 9

Wow...already chapter 9! Thanks for the reviews you guys gave me. It really helped. (looks away, face blushing)...oh...AHEM. Now, on to the next chapter!

**Chapter 9: The Hunt**

Cloud looked at the man before him. He looked exactly as the Sephiroth he knew, except that he wore white instead of black.

Sephiroth wasted no time. "Come Cloud. We must hurry, or he'll get away!" Sephiroth ran out of the room, after his other self.

Cloud looked at Aeris in confusion. "What?"

Aeris looked at him and opened her mouth to reply, but then thought better of it. "I'll explain later."

Sephiroth, the Dark One, looked around the land. Not much had changed. At least as far as he knew. Not that it mattered. There looked to be plenty of Lifestream left.

And for what he wanted, that was a good thing.

He turned around, as his acute senses picked up the sounds of Cloud's friends catching up with him. He quickly took to the sky, and flew straight up.

"What to do... Where to go..." He thought.

On a whim, he turned to the South East, and headed straight for Midgar. He could feel a strange power emanating from there. One such as he had never felt before. With a smile, he decided to check it out.

He smirked as he looked back and saw Cloud's friends watch him disappear.

Elena yawned as she rolled over. She didn't want to get up.

But that damn noise wouldn't let her go back to sleep. Angry, she sat up, and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she looked at the commotion.

In an instant, she was awake, her mouth hung wide open at what she saw.

She saw Sephiroth!

"No... that's impossible." She told herself. She rubbed some more sleep out of her eyes, and took another look. He was gone.

She looked around, but paused when she heard something. She looked up, and saw Sephiroth flying into the air, just as AVALANCH came running out of the city.

She punched Reno and Rude to wake them. "Get up guys! They're here!"

Reno gave a big yawn as he stretched himself awake.

Rude simply sat up.

"What's wrong!" Reno asked when he saw the look of worry in Elena's eyes.  
Elena turned to him and said one word.

Sephiroth

"Damnit!" Barret yelled as Sephiroth flew off into the distance. "We almost had him!"

Tifa sighed. "It won't matter. I have a feeling he has something planned for us."

Barret suddenly grabbed his head. "Oh my god! My dream! What if it comes true!"

A light appeared over Tifa's as she remembered Barret's description of his dream. "Oh shit! You're right! I almost forgot about it!"

Zack turned and looked at them as if they where crazy. "What dream? Can someone fill me in?"

The rest of the group also listened in as Barret told them about his dream. About Cloud being separated and killed by Sephiroth, then of him killing all of them, destroying the planet with Meteor, and becoming a god, just as he had originally intended.

He finished his brief story just as the other Sephiroth emerged from behind them. They all immediately readied themselves for battle, as they saw someone in the shadows move.

But Sephiroth lowered his weapon, and held his hands up. "I'm not your enemy." He said calmly, as he emerged from the shadows.

Everyone did a double take. Slowly, they turned around and looked where the other Sephiroth had disappeared. Then they turned back to face this Sephiroth.

"My eyes must be playing tricks on me!" Barret stated. "I'm seeing two Sephiroths!"

Cloud and Aeris ran up to the other group, then stopped to catch their breath.

_Did I see that right?_ Tifa thought. She could have sworn that they where holding hands. Tifa just shook the thought from her head.

"Aeris?" Yuffie asked. She took another look. "Aeris!" Yuffie ran up and gave Aeris a hug. No one could blame her. Even Vincent felt like hugging their newly returned friend.  
The group spent about a minute welcoming their friend back, telling her that they were glad to see her, etc. After all the pleasantries have been said, Aeris went over and gave Cid a hug.

"I hope my advice helped." She said.

Cid smiled. "It sure did. Doctors say I may get the full use of my legs back within 3 months at this rate. And Shera's been at my side all the way. I don't know what I would ever do without her."

Sephiroth politely coughed. Apparently, they had forgotten him.

Aeris turned to him. "Everyone... This, I guess, is Sephiroth. And he's on our side."

Again, everyone did a double take.

"I am not Sephiroth, per say. I am but a manifestation of his more human side." Sephiroth told them.

Barret's mouth just gaped open. "Then who the hell was that!" He pointed to where the other Sephiroth had disappeared.

"That..." Sephiroth said, "Is the manifestation of the pure evil side of Sephiroth. He is the truly insane one. He is the one you all battled last year."

Aeris turned to face them all. "And now that he is free, there is almost no chance to stop him."

"Hey come on! We beat him once! How hard could it be to do it again?" Yuffie asked.

Sephiroth turned his piercing glare to her. "There are only two people on this planet who even have a remote chance of stopping him."

Vincent smiled. "Let me guess. You and Cloud are those two."

Sephiroth nodded at Vincent. "You are correct." His expression turned stone cold. "But even so... I doubt that we will be in time to stop him from whatever he plans to do. And I doubt that anyone will survive that plan."

"My God! Another Sephiroth!" Reno's mouth gaped as he peered over the bushes. "This is just getting worse."

Elena turned to him, and frowned. "Well... what's the plan now?"

Reno lowered his head as he thought. And unfortunately, he could only think of one thing. "We join them."

Rude and Elena looked at Reno in shock, as Reno stood up, and began walking towards AVALANCH.

Reeve was the first to notice him. "Uh... guys?"

The group turned to see Reno walking towards them, closely followed by Rude and Elena.

Cloud held his sword ready. "Reno. What do you want now!" He demanded.

Reno stopped at the end of Cloud's sword, and stared at him. His eyes never wavered. "I saw both of them. You need help. We're offering our services."

Cloud glared at him warily. "What's the catch?"

Reno rolled his eyes. "There is a mad Sephiroth loose on this planet, you guys won't be able to defeat him by yourselves, and now your turning down help! I thought higher of you Cloud."

Cloud continued to glare at him. "What... is... the... catch?" He asked again, emphasizing each word.

Reno chuckled as he remembered doing the very same thing to Cloud. "No catch. I just don't want the world to be destroyed like it nearly was last time."

Cloud lowered his sword. _I can't believe I'm doing this._ "Ok. A truce... For now." Cloud stuck his hand out.

Rude and Elena exchanged looks as Reno grabbed Cloud's hand and shook it.

They had just formed a wary alliance.

Cloud, Zack, Red, Elena and the Light Sephiroth walked by the spot, almost without recognizing it. Cloud almost tripped over himself trying to stop.

Slowly, he walked over to the little outcropping, and looked out over the city of Midgar.

"This is the spot." He said with a slight laugh. Zack walked up to him, and put his hand on Cloud's shoulder.

"Cloud. It's ok. It happened over a year ago." Zack said, trying to comfort his disturbed friend.

"I know... but the memories are so vivid..." Cloud walked over to the edge, where, over a year ago, Cloud saw Zack shot in the chest. He could almost see the soldiers walk up and shoot him full of bullets.

Elena walked over to Red, and looked at him. "What happened there? I don't understand."

Red sighed before he spoke. "Over a year ago, before Cloud joined AVALANCH, he and Zack escaped from a science lab. They traveled to this spot, before soldiers caught up with them. From what Cloud remembers, Zack put him on the ground, then attacked the soldiers. But they shot him. They proceeded to fire several rounds into Zack's chest, then left Cloud for dead."

A tear ran down Elena's cheek. "Th... They shot Zack?"

Red simply nodded. "Yes. By all accounts, he should be dead. It wasn't until the beginning of this adventure that we found out that Zack was alive. Somehow, maybe by divine intervention, or just pure luck, he survived. I'm baffled as to how exactly he survived. Not even a normal member of SOLDIER should have been able to live."

Another tear traced down Elena's cheek. She broke into a smile. "Well... Zack was never the type to give up."

Red looked at her, then back at Cloud and Zack. "Perhaps. But there's something fishy about the story he gave us. I don't think he could have survived the way he told us he did. But... I have no real proof."

Elena gave him a sharp look, as she forced back some more tears. "Does it matter! He's alive! I don't care how, but he's alive. As much as I loathe him, I still don't want to see my only brother dead."

Red decided not to say anything more on the subject. Instead, he simply waited for Cloud and Zack to come back, so they could continue on their mission.

"Well, there's no sign of him here." Barret said into the PHS. He, Rude, Cait Sith, and Reeve had been asking people all over Kalm. However, he hadn't seen Aeris since they where dropped off. "Rude is still asking a few people, but I doubt that he'll get any bites."

_"Yeah, I was afraid of that."_ Cid said though the PHS. _"The Choco-farm was closed, and there was no sign of a break in. I met up with Reno, Tifa, Vincent and Yuffie at Fort Condor this morning. They didn't find anything at Junon, and no one here saw a thing."_

Barret shook his head. "You know what that means, don't you?"

Cid's worry came through loud and clear. _"Yeah. We'll meet you at Midgar."_

Cloud looked around at Midgar. In a lot of ways, it was worse than when he last saw it.

There where at least 3 porn shops in every sector, more buildings had deteriorated beyond repair, and prostitutes of both sexes littered the streets. There was a few parts of some sectors that looked better. In fact, one of the sectors had a nice, clean park in the center of it.

They had determined early on that they would be noticed if Red talked or walked free on his own, so they devised that Zack would act blind, and Red would act like his eye-dog.

Before they began this act, Red could be heard to say "This is humiliating." Cloud simply grinned, and opened the doors to the city.

As they walked through Sector 6, they came across Aeris' church. Cloud wanted to stop, and see the flowers. The others decided to stay outside.

Cloud was surprised when he walked in and found Aeris was tending to them. He had to do a double take. "Aeris?"

Aeris turned around, and smiled at Cloud. "Hello. Want a flower? They're only one Gil each."

Cloud laughed at Aeris' re-enacted their first meeting. He decided to play along. "Sure."

He paid for the flower, then handed it back to her. "Here miss. A gorgeous flower for a gorgeous flower."

Aeris giggled. "So what took you so long to get here Cloud?"

Cloud shook his head. "I was about to ask you how you got here so fast! We walked straight from Kalm, where you should be."

"Well..." Aeris started. "It's been a year, and I needed to see how my flowers where doing. I ran most the way here."

Cloud smiled and looked at the flowers. "Looks like they survived here pretty well."

Aeris smiled and brought her attention back to the flowers. "Yes. They are quite resilient." She spent another minute tending to the flowers.

Cloud seemed content to watch her. When Aeris finished, she turned to Cloud and smiled. "Well... Let's get going. We have a lot of work to do."

Cloud returned her smile, and they walked outside together to meet up with their friends.

Sephiroth, the Light One, slowly paced back and forth outside of Midgar. They had decided he should wait outside, since he was almost as infamous as Hitler. The less he was seen, the better.

Sephiroth looked at the city and sighed again. They where taking far too long.

Suddenly, Sephiroth knew. He knew the Dark One was in this city. And he knew he was waiting for something.

Without thinking, Sephiroth flung himself into the air, and began an overhead search for the Dark One. Somehow, for some reason... Sephiroth had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen...

Aeris held Cloud's hand tightly, for deep inside, she feared what this place had become. She was afraid that someone would grab her, and run off with her. Even though she knew Cloud wouldn't let that happen.

They where in the more populated areas of Midgar now, where sex and the one with the fastest gun ruled. They had asked a few people, but no one had seen anything. After about an hour or two, a few prostitutes started to ask them things.

"Hey honey!"

Cloud was shocked to suddenly see a prostitute pushing herself against him.

"Oh! What a fine, strong, young man." The prostitute gave Aeris a dirty look, then turned back to Cloud. "Hey baby. Ditch the pansy, and I'll show you a REAL good time. For cheap too."

"I... uhh..." Cloud started to mumble as he tried to think of something to say.

Aeris' eyes narrowed. With a strange anger, she grabbed the prostitute's shoulder and swung her in her direction. "Stay away from my man, you fucking bitch!" Aeris' arm swung around hard, and the prostitute fell to the ground.

Everyone looked at Aeris in complete shock. She held her aching hand for a moment before she realized everyone was staring at her. "You know... I always wanted to do that to someone." Aeris was pleased to note that most of the prostitutes stayed away from herself and Cloud.

After about a hour of asking around, the group still had no leads. They got fed up, and decided to split into three groups. Aeris and Cloud would be one group and search the upper parts of Midgar. Zack and Red would continue to look around the slums, and Elena would ask around the parts of town that still feared the name Turks.

After they had split up, Zack and Red continued down what was referred to as Prostitute Alley. Still playing the part of a blind man, Zack began to ask all sorts of people if they had seen anyone matching Sephiroth's description.

After 15 minutes of asking, three prostitutes came up to him.

"Hey big guy. Got anything good under the hood?" A girl named Karin asked him. She was wearing a long fur coat, and it didn't look like she was wearing anything else.

Zack, really tired of fending himself off, decided to have some fun with these three. "I'm sorry. I don't own a car."

Karin smiled her work smile. "That's not what I mean, sugar." She moved towards him, when she bumped into Red. When she saw him, she instantly jumped back 3 feet. "Wow. That quite a big... uh... dog... err... cat... uhh... animal you got there."

Red was about to correct her, when Zack started to scratch him behind his ears. "Yeah. He the best pet I've ever had. I hear he has red fur, and a beautiful mane. Quite a babe magnet, don't you agree?"

"I guess... He's your pet?" She asked.

"Yeah. But, he's my best friend. We talk a lot. Sports, women, the state of the world, the meaning of life, women, beer... all sorts of thing."

Karin looked at him funny. "He talks to you?"

"Yeah, he does." Zack leaned closer to Red. "Come on boy! Speak. Speak!"

Red was about to say something, when he realized what Zack was doing. Red repressed a giggle, and decided that this could be fun. "Woof, woof!"

Zack smiled and scratched him behind the ears some more. "That's nice of you to say! Good boy Red!"

"What did he say?"

"Didn't you understand him?" Zack asked puzzled.

Karin looked at her friends, and turned back to him. "Well... no."

"He said for you to leave me alone. He thinks you'll just rob me or do something else terrible to me."

Karin face showed her resentment. "Why that no-good, flea-ridden-"

Red began to grow very ominously, and very angrily. Karin and her two friends back off a foot or two.

"He's very protective of me. But he does like some people. Hold out your hand, and let him sniff it." Zack said encouragingly.

Karin carefully extended her hand. Red was unsure of what to do, but decided to play along. He sniffed it. Red almost passed out. The smell was intoxicating. In reaction, Red began to growl the most ferocious growl he could. He tried to sound demonic.

Instantly, Karin pulled her hand away. "He... He doesn't bite... does he?"

Zack shrugged. "He does sometimes. He must of smelled something he didn't like. Here, let me smell." Karin extended her hand. Zack groped for her hand, then felt it. The skin was nice and soft. He brought it to his nose, and took a whiff. If he didn't have such a strong stomach, he felt as if he was going to throw up. The smell was nauseating. He could only imagined what it smelled like to Red, who had a better sense of smell.

"Oh! Now I understand. It smells terrible." He ran his hand up her arm, until he felt the fur. "That's what wrong. The fur. It feels just like his. He must think you're a killer."

"Well... he's wrong. Tell him to stop growling at me!" Karin replied.

"I can't. You'll have to get rid of that coat for him to stop growling." Red increased his growling, and began to advance on Karin. But Zack held him back. "Hurry! I don't think I can hold him much longer!"

Karin suddenly began to panic. "But... But I'm not wearing anything underneath this!"  
Red tried to squirm out of Zack's grip.

"Then RUN! He's got the scent of your kind! I won't be able to stop him! He'll kill you all!"

Karin and her friend quickly ran away, as fast as they could.

When they where out of sight, both Zack and Red fell down laughing.

Barret sighed with impatience as he waited for the Highwind to set down, so they could get off.

Finally, after another full minute, the Highwind finally set down, and Barret jumped off, followed soon after by everyone else.

"Ok people! Listen up!" Barret said. "We'll split up into 3 teams. Half of us will search the Slums. The other half will search the top of the plate, and the Turks will..." Barret sighed as he realized he had separated the two groups again. He couldn't help it too much.

He simply didn't trust those Turks. "Ok. New plan. Half of us will check the slums, and the other half will check the top of the plate. Now LET'S GO!"

Reno and Rude exchanged glances. Then Rude nodded.

Reno smiled, as he lead the way into the city of Midgar.

Aeris and Cloud walked down on of the remaining suburban areas of Midgar. At first, they had asked door-to-door, but soon found out that it lead to too many dead ends, and they where running out of time. So they walked down the sidewalk, hand-in-hand, enjoying each other's company, looking for someone who might have seen something.

Aeris lifted her head from it's spot on Cloud's shoulder. "Cloud?"

Cloud looked her way with a curious glance. "Yeah?"

Aeris tore her eyes away from Cloud's, and she steadied herself. "What's happened between you and Tifa since I've been gone?"

Cloud's mind raced to find a suitable answer, but he couldn't think of one. His heart was now so screwed up, he wasn't sure of what he truly felt at all. He loved Aeris without a doubt... But he had known Tifa since they where children. He'd always sort of had a crush on her, and that had developed into true love. But wasn't what he felt now, with Aeris, also true love?

Uncertain, he made a choice. He took a deep steadying breath before be began. "Aeris... Tifa and I have grown up together. After you died, it felt like I lost a part of myself. But through out all the hardships, all the pain, all the suffering, Tifa has been there." Cloud could feel Aeris begin to pull away from him a bit, but he pushed on. "After we defeated Sephiroth, we moved in together, and helped to rebuild our hometown. We've grown to discover our true feelings for each other, and I wouldn't do anything to ruin that. Just before we began this adventure..." Cloud hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Aeris this. "I... was going to ask her to marry me." Cloud finished.

Aeris stopped and pulled away from Cloud. He turned around and looked at her. She held her arms across her chest in a defensive posture, and her shoulders where twitching. It didn't take Cloud long to hear the sobbing, or sense the tears rolling down her eyes.  
"I'm..." Aeris began. "I'm... sorry. I'm sorry I ruined your life with her..." Aeris' tears rolled down her face like a dam had been released. Cloud walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders, but Aeris just tore away from him.

Cloud didn't advance. Instead, he just stood there, thinking carefully about what he was about to say. "Aeris... It doesn't matter anymore." Cloud took a step forward. "It doesn't matter because-"

"Cloud!"

Cloud turned at the sound of his name. Behind him, the Light Sephiroth landed, and looked at him. Sephiroth was a little out of breath. "What is it?" Cloud asked. Aeris, curious, had also turned at the mention of Cloud's name.

"He... He's coming!" Sephiroth was finally able to get out.

Confusion cloaked Cloud's face. "Who? Who is coming?"

Sephiroth brought his eyes up to meet Cloud's. "The Dark Sephiroth." He said. "And he's ready... to kill you... Both of you!"


	10. Chapter 10

**The story's about to end! What will happen now?**

**Chapter 10: Return to the City of the Ancients**

Cloud looked around quickly. He knew that the Dark Sephiroth would not be far behind this one.

"Where is he?" Aeris asked as he walked over and helped the Light Sephiroth stand up.

The sound of Cloud unsheathing his sword filled their ears. "I can feel him approaching."

Sephiroth and Aeris just looked at Cloud. But then they saw it. A black dot in the sky. It rapidly approached, and finally landed not too far from Cloud.

Cloud brought his sword into battle position. "What do you want!" Cloud asked him.

The Dark Sephiroth smiled. He quickly brought his sword up, and pointed it at Cloud.

"You want some of this?"

Cloud's eyes narrowed.

The Dark Sephiroth raced at Cloud, and swung his sword. Cloud blocked the attack, and counter swung. It hit air. Cloud glanced around, then heard Aeris shrike. A chill went down his back as he turned around and saw the Dark Sephiroth's sword impaling the Light Sephiroth. The Dark Sephiroth withdrew his sword, smiling at Aeris.

"So. You're back." Sephiroth brought his sword behind him, and easily blocked Cloud's surprise attack. He spun around, hitting Cloud in the waist with his sword.

Cloud grabbed his waist, and glared at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth, on the other hand, continued to smile at Aeris. He walked over to her.  
"Aeris! Run!" Cloud yelled.

But Aeris stood still, as if in a trance. She just looked in horror into the Dark Sephiroth's eyes.

Sephiroth walked up to her, then brushed his hand against her face. "So lovely. Isn't she Cloud?" Sephiroth looked back at Cloud and the other Sephiroth. "You'd do anything for her, wouldn't you?"

Cloud just glared at him in anger.

Sephiroth smiled. "Yes... you would." Sephiroth suddenly grabbed Aeris, and picked her up under his arm, and flew up into the sky. "If you want to see her again, come to the City of the Ancients. And if you hurry..." Sephiroth smiled. "You might see her alive." Sephiroth then took Aeris and flew away.  
"CCCLLLOOOUUUUDDD!" Aeris yelled as she disappeared with Sephiroth.

Cloud just watched her, feeling totally helpless as she and Sephiroth disappeared into the sky. "Aeris..." He said softly.

"Cloud..."

Cloud turned his attention to the voice, which came out of the Light Sephiroth. Cloud was amazed he was still alive. "How..."

Sephiroth smiled. "He won't kill me. If he does, he'll also die." Sephiroth wiped the saliva from his lips. "And we don't have blood like you. Right now... we are beings of pure Will."

Cloud looked at Sephiroth's wound, and was surprised to see it was almost totally healed.

Sephiroth shook himself, then looked at Cloud's wound. He held his hand up, and suddenly, the pain was gone. Cloud looked at his wound, and found it was totally healed.

"Come on." Sephiroth said. "We've got to catch up to them."

Cloud grabbed Sephiroth's shoulders, and held on tight, as Sephiroth rose into the sky, following the other Sephiroth to the City of the Ancients.

Tifa ran quickly, but she wasn't fast enough to catch Cloud and Sephiroth. She cursed as she saw them fly off, towards the north.

Tifa looked around, and found someone was tinkering with a plane of some type. She quickly ran over to the man.

"Excuse me, but I need to borrow your plane." Tifa said as she jumped in.

"Hey! You can't do that!" The old man replied. "She cost me a bundle, and I'm not letting some hotshot young woman take off in it!"

Tifa took a deep breath to calm herself. "Listen... I HAVE to borrow it so I can catch up to my friends and save the world!"

The old man smiled. "He he he... such youth. So... you think you're gonna save the world, huh?" the old man laughed. "Who do you think you are! Tifa Lockheart!" The man laughed at her.

Tifa looked at him. "Actually, I AM Tifa Lockheart!"  
The old man blinked at her. "Huh?" The old man put on his glasses, and took a look at her. He was shocked when he realized that she WAS her! "AAHHHH! I'm SO sorry Miss Lockheart! Go ahead and use my plane! Here's the keys!" The old man tossed her the keys, and she started the plane.

She slowly taxied it onto the road, and revved it up. It'd been a long time since she'd ever flown a plane...

Tifa punched it, and took off down the street. Slowly, the plane gained speed. Tifa looked ahead, and noticed that she was about to go off the plate. She pushed the plane's engine, unsure if she would make it.

Finally, the end of the plate was before her. She closed her eyes, and pulled on the stick, but the plane didn't rise. _No time to turn around! What am I going to do!_ Tifa thought.  
Suddenly, the plate disappeared from under her, and she was sure she was going to fall. But to her surprise, the plane continued flying straight.

Tifa smiled as she pulled the stick back, and rose into the air. She quickly turned and went after Sephiroth and Cloud.

She had almost cleared Midgar, when she got a call on the PHS.

_"Tifa! Did you see the plane that just took off from the top plate?"_ Barret's voice asked though the PHS.

Tifa smiled. "Yeah Barret. In fact, I'm flying that plane." Tifa knew that silence over the PHS was Barret gawking. "I saw Sephiroth... the... uh... good one, I think... I saw him and Cloud fly off, heading north. I'm following them."

_"Tifa! Don't go and do something stupid! Wait for us!"_ Barret yelled through the PHS.

Tifa smiled. "Sorry Barret. This is something I just got to do. Meet us at the City of the Ancients. That looks like where they are going." With that, Tifa turned off the PHS and flew after Cloud and Sephiroth.

Barret turned to Vincent, Reeve and Cait Sith. "Damn that woman!" Barret cursed. "She's gonna go after Cloud and Sephiroth alone. We need to get everyone." Barret looked around in confusion. "Hey has anyone seen Reno or Rude?"

Vincent and Reeve looked at each other.

"No." Reeve responded. "We thought you knew."

"Damn." Barret said. He punched in a few numbers on the PHS, and waited. Finally, someone picked it up. "Hey! Is Reno or Rude with you guys?" He asked.

_"No Barret."_ Yuffie replied. _"But we did find Zack and Red. Why?"_

Barret sighed. "Tifa just took off the top plate in a plane after Cloud and Sephiroth. She said it looked like they where heading towards the City of the Ancients. We're all gonna meet up in the Highwind in 5 minutes and go after them."

_"Ok."_ Yuffie answered. _"What about the Turks?"_ She asked.

Barret thought about it. "We're gonna leave them. We don't have time to look for them too. We'll meet you on the Highwind in 5 minutes."

The bar's atmosphere was a musky one. People scattered among the dark tables; most just taking a drink once in a while. Very few people talked. And the ones that did were either ordering a drink, or were performing.

Men watched the current act transfixed. The dancer wore only a G-string, and a flimsy top, which barely covered anything. The dancer moved seductively around most of the men and a few of the women too.

Elena shook her head in disgust as she looked into her drink. She had taken one of the booths in the far corner of the bar. A particularly dark corner.

If there was one thing she could count on, it was bar gossip. Although she seemed self-absorbed in her drink and her problems, Elena was listening carefully to all the conversations in the room. But so far, no one had said one word about Sephiroth.

Elena finished her drink, and ordered another one. She sighed. It had been a long time since she had a real good drink. She got her glass, and took a good sip from it. She then turned her attention to the past few days.

Mark's death... That damn Talon... The WEAPON Materia... Destroying Wutai, which she was against... Discovering her brother was alive...

Elena took another big swig.

Suddenly the doors of the bar opened, flooding the place with light. Everything went dead quiet. Elena covered her eyes and strained to make out who had opened the doors.

Two figures stood outlined by the light. Both were male, and one appeared to be bald. Both around the same height...  
_Ahh... they finally found me._ Elena thought. She turned back to her drink.

The bald man saw her first, and nudged the other man. They walked in, closing the doors behind them. As they did so, every pair of eyes watched them.

They walked over to the bar, and looked at the bartender.

"Wutai Firewater." Reno's voice said.

The bartender visibly shook as he looked at Rude, who promptly raised two fingers, indicating he wanted the same. Reno smiled as the bartender gave them their drinks.  
Reno and Rude walked over and sat in the corner booth next to Elena's. When they sat down, everything became normal again.

Reno took a sip, and leaned back far enough that Elena could hear him. "Any luck?"

Elena looked at her drink. "No." She said softly. "But you really should try the house scotch. It's very relaxing." Elena took another sip of her drink. When she put her drink back down, Rude was sitting across from her. She almost jumped. "Damn it Rude!" She said softly. "Don't do that!"

Rude simply took a round, silver orb out of his coat, and placed it on the table before Elena.

Elena blinked. She HAD to be seeing things. "Rude... is that...?"

Rude nodded his head. He put the orb back in his coat, and took a sip from his drink.

Cloud and Sephiroth landed not too far from the entrance to the City of the Ancients.

He took out his sword, and started for the entrance to the city when Sephiroth stopped him. He looked at him confused. "What is it?" he asked.

"Cloud... This Sephiroth we are about to face... he is like the one you last fought, but he's much faster, and much stronger. We must stop him no matter what. Even if it means you must kill me, we must stop him."

Cloud nodded his head. "I understand."

"And Cloud..." Sephiroth added. "It's been good to fight with you again, instead of against you."

Cloud smiled, and they both ran down into the City of the Ancients.

It was dark in the City of the Ancients... Eerily so.

Aeris looked around cautiously... Her eyes then turned to her captor. He simply smiled at her.

"Don't worry. They'll come for you." Sephiroth increased the size of his smile. "Cloud always comes for you." Sephiroth pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against, and walked over to her.

Aeris curled into a defensive position, as he got closer. She turned her head away in disgust as he brought his head near hers.

Sephiroth leaned close to her, and placed his mouth only a few inches from her ear. "And when he does... I'll cut him into a thousand little pieces." He whispered into her ear.

Sephiroth's hot breath sent a chill down Aeris' spine.

Suddenly, Sephiroth gave her a seductive kiss on the cheek. He stood up and laughed devilishly.

When Sephiroth had his back turned, Aeris quickly wiped her cheek where Sephiroth had kissed her. It disgusted her how much this... creature torture her. "You big jerk." She said softly.

Sephiroth turned around, and glared at her. "What!"

Suddenly, Aeris was filled with all the courage she needed. "You big jerk!" She yelled at him. She got up, and walked over to him, and looked him in the eye. "Why are you doing this! Is it because you're a sick monster, or because it's some sort of sick revenge for all the torment you've gotten in your life! How can you stand there, tell me what you're going to do to the man I love, then give me a kiss! How sick can you get!"

Rage boiled in Sephiroth. He was about to release it, when something she said brought on his curiosity. "Love?" He asked, with a raise of his eyebrows.

Aeris looked confused for a moment. She quickly recalled what she said. Suddenly, it dawned on her. She smiled at Sephiroth. "Yes. Love. The man I love is Cloud. And when he gets here, you'll be nothing but a puddle on the floor for him to sweep up!"

The rage brimmed. Sephiroth quickly grabbed her arm, and tossed her onto the floor.

"Listen to me you little bitch! You may be a Cetra, and you may be the love of Cloud's life, but the one thing you are NOT is immortal! I would kill you right now, if I wanted to. In fact, I've very close to doing it. The only reason I don't, is because I want to see the look on Cloud's face, as I run you through, just like I did before!" Sephiroth stopped, and walked back a few steps. Suddenly, he felt something. Sephiroth turned to Aeris and smiled. "Speaking of which... you love has arrived."

Sephiroth unsheathed his sword, and waited for the door to the room they where in to open.

Men and women quickly crossed the street as they saw the trio walk down the road.

Reno just enjoyed the fact that people still remembered who and what they where. He took a deep breath, and smiled. "It feels good to be back in Midgar. And this time, we're on leave. We can do what we want. We don't have to take orders, and we don't have to do a thing, except enjoy life!"

"What about getting a place to stay?" Elena asked. "Do you think you can simply live in the streets? Sleep in the parks? Even WE have to have standards."

"Yeah, but who cares? We can do anything, live where we want, and do just about everything we ever dreamed!" Reno exclaimed. "And now that we have both the WEAPON materia, and the _Materia of Destiny_ we can have anything we want!"  
Elena thought for a bit as they walked down the street. Finally, they stopped at a crosswalk.

"Reno? Rude?" Elena started. "Do you ever... think about doing something else with your life?"

"Like what?" Reno asked. "Being a simple TV repairman? I've been that girl."

"No..." She said. "Like... being everything you've ever wanted to be. What about your dreams? Haven't you ever had a dream job that didn't include killing, stealing, or hurting anyone?"

A long, silent moment passed between the three of them.

"Yes." Rude finally said.

Both of them turned to him. They were surprised that possibly the best Turk ever, would want to be something else...

Rude turned to both of them, and looked at them. "But right now, I think Elena has a point. We need a place to stay."

Cloud looked at the door.

He knew the other Sephiroth and Aeris was on the other side of it. But what where the conditions like? Was Aeris hurt? Could Sephiroth be hurting her now? Could she already be dead?

Cloud shook the thought from his head. _No._ He thought. _She's not dead. And she won't be! Not again! Not by his hands!_

Cloud looked at the other Sephiroth, and nodded. He was ready.

The Light Sephiroth nodded back, and press the hidden switch.

The door opened up, and Cloud walked through it.

The Dark Sephiroth had his sword out, and was smiling at Cloud.

Cloud looked behind him, and saw Aeris. Her eyes where wide with fear, happiness, and pride.

Cloud unsheathed his sword, and stood in his battle stance. "Will you let her go?" He asked. "Or do I have to take you apart piece by piece?"

The Dark Sephiroth smiled as he looked at Cloud. "Why Cloud... I thought you'd be smarter than to come alone. What's the matter? Is that weak coward too chicken to come in and face me? Or is he just sick of fighting me, and wants someone else to die in his place?"

"Maybe I just had a plan!" The Light Sephiroth exclaimed.

The Dark Sephiroth spun around to see the Light Sephiroth help Aeris up. "What the? How?"

The Light Sephiroth smiled. "Awww... what's the matter? Did I ruin all your pretty plans?" The Light Sephiroth withdrew his sword, and aimed it at the Dark Sephiroth.

"Now... You will pay for every person you've ever hurt!"

The Light Sephiroth, and the Dark Sephiroth began to fight, faster than Cloud could follow. He saw sparks fly, and heard sword clang. Every once in a while, he'd hear the sound of a sword hitting flesh. All he could do is hope that it was the Light Sephiroth hitting the Dark one.

Finally, the two began to slow down, and Cloud could easily follow the two.

But it didn't look good. Cloud could see several cuts on the Light Sephiroth, while the Dark Sephiroth looked almost untouched.

Cloud looked at Aeris, and suddenly, he was filled with hope, and determination.

Cloud joined the fray. He slashed at the Dark Sephiroth, and hit almost every time! But it did not last long. Suddenly, the Dark Sephiroth delivered a devastating blow to the Light Sephiroth, and forced him out of battle.

Now the Dark Sephiroth could concentrate on this little pest, known as Cloud.

The Dark Sephiroth slashed at Cloud several times, but Cloud was able to block them. A few of the major hits, were blocked to become minor cuts, but every cut only pushed Cloud's determination farther.

There was a fury building within Cloud, and it only got stronger with each attack the Dark Sephiroth made. Cloud could feel it was almost at the point where he would not be able to control it.

Their swords clashed, and sent a vibration throughout the entire city. The Dark Sephiroth looked at Cloud, while their swords where locked.

"Not bad. You've improved since we last fought. But you still are no match for me!" The Dark Sephiroth withdrew his sword, and charged Cloud, faster then Cloud thought possible.

Pain exploded through Cloud's body, as the sword skewered him in his right shoulder. Cloud screamed out in pain.

It was a sound that Aeris would hope she would never hear. Unable to control herself, she stood up. Suddenly, she felt a burst of energy flow through her body, and she suddenly knew what to do.

In one, quick move, Aeris ran over to the Dark Sephiroth, kicked him hard in the head, withdrew his sword from Cloud's shoulder, and used it to cut off the Dark Sephiroth's leg!  
He winced in pain as his leg parted from his body. He did his best not to yell out, but it was obvious that he wanted to.

Breathing hard, Aeris looked at what she had done, wide eyed. She could hardly believe what she had done... She dropped the sword, and backed away. Had she really done it?

She looked at the man sitting before her in pain. She looked down, and saw that he was missing everything below his knee on his left leg.

Aeris shook her head in denial. She turned away, and went over to Cloud. She used some of her magic to help heal him. "Are you ok?"

Cloud smiled at her and nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

Suddenly, the Light Sephiroth popped up. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I must say Aeris, that you did a wonderful job of buying us some time."

Aeris' face became confused. "What do you mean? He doesn't have a leg! He's not much of a threat right now."

Suddenly, a sword appeared around her neck, and a black arm covered her waist.

"The problem, girly, is that I can regenerate body parts." The Dark Sephiroth stated.

Cloud and the Light Sephiroth began to move towards him.

"Don't even think about it!" The Dark Sephiroth said, shaking his head. "One more step, and this pretty little flower looses her head."

The Dark Sephiroth and Aeris took a few steps back.

Cloud looked around. There wasn't much he could do... Suddenly, a thought struck him.

Something the Light Sephiroth had told him...

Cloud grabbed his sword, and put it around the Light Sephiroth's neck. "Let her go! Or Else!"

"Cloud? What are you doing!" The Light Sephiroth whispered.

Cloud smiled. "Trust me." He whispered back.

The Dark Sephiroth smiled. "Oh... I'm scared..." the Dark Sephiroth began to laugh. "You don't have it in you to kill him Cloud!"

"Oh yeah? Are you sure about that!" Cloud began to sink his sword into the Light Sephiroth's neck. If he had blood, it would have trickled down.

The Dark Sephiroth's eye grew big. "Ok! Ok..." He removed his sword from around Aeris' throat. "You want her? You want her!" The Dark Sephiroth smiled. With a toss of his arm, he threw Aeris into the hole that surrounded the main platform.

"NOOO!" Cloud yelled. Cloud released the Light Sephiroth, and sank to his knees.

"Nooo..."  
The Light Sephiroth did not waist anytime. He quickly charged the Dark Sephiroth, sending them both over the edge...

And into the oblivion that awaited them below...


	11. Chapter 11

**And now the conclusion!**

**Chapter 11: Rebirth**

Talon sat down in his command chair. He had a big day. First, he made his wish, then he was stopped, and now... It seemed as he would never get anything to go his way...

Talon snapped his fingers.

Nothing happened.

Frustrated, Talon looked around. "Hey! Someone get in here!" Talon heard the sound of the door behind him opening. "Ahh, good. Get me a drink. And turn on some more lights!"

The sound of a million deep voices roared in response. "TALLLOONNN..." The voices said...

The sound was enough to send shivers down Talon's spine. He knew something was very wrong. He silently withdrew his sword, and turned around.

There, a humanoid monster was waiting for him, perched upon the table. It's rough skin shimmered in the dim lighting, while a rainbow of colors danced wherever the lights hit it's skin. Each hand had 3 sharp claws that extended about 12 inches from what should have been it's palm. It's face was covered in razor-sharp teeth, and claws, and it's eyes glowed an even more intense red than his own.

The creature, which could only be a WEAPON, swung it's arms at Talon's neck, and during Talon's last few seconds of life, he saw what could only be his own body, shred to pieces in front of his dying eyes...

Cloud rested his head into his hands.

He had lost Aeris... again... and to the same monster that killed her the first time...

Cloud could feel the tears begin to swell up.

"Cloud!"

Cloud looked up. Did he imagine it, or did he hear Aeris call his name?

"CLOUD!"

Cloud got up, and raced to the edge of the pit.

A few feet below him, he saw Aeris holding onto an outcropping on the side of the pit.  
"AERIS!" Cloud exclaimed! Cloud smiled. She was alive!

But her face was not as excited. She looked as if she was in pain. Then Cloud saw movement below her. He slid to the side a little, and saw that the Light Sephiroth was holding onto Aeris' ankle, and that the Dark Sephiroth was holding onto him, trying to not only climb up over him, but also inflict some serious wounds upon him at the same time.

The Light Sephiroth was able to keep the Dark Sephiroth from climbing up, while trying to hold on, but Cloud knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it that way for long.

"Cloud!" Aeris yelled. "I can't hold on much longer!"

Aeris suddenly slipped, and half of her hand lost their grip on the smooth outcropping. She was barely able to move, but somehow, she was able to get a better grip on the outcropping.

"I can't hold on much longer!" Aeris yelled up.

"Hold on Aeris! I'll find something to pull you up with!" Cloud yelled back.

Cloud quickly glanced around. There didn't look like there was a rope, or a vine or anything that might help him, but he had to make sure.

He quickly began to search. He was about to give up, when the room's door opened.  
Cloud looked at the newcomer, and was relieved. "Tifa! Thank god you're here!"

"Why? What's wrong?" Tifa asked as Cloud grabbed her hand, and dragged her over to the edge. When she saw what the conditions where, she understood. "Ok! I'll hold your feet, and you try to reach her!"

Cloud looked at her. "But you're the lighter of us. You should go."

Tifa gave him a glare. "Yeah, but you're taller. You'll have a better chance of reaching her! Now shut up and get down there!"

Cloud quickly laid down, and Tifa grabbed his feet. Slowly, Cloud was lowered over the side of the pit.

When Tifa finished lowering Cloud, Cloud reached out his hand. He could barely reach her. "Damn!" Cloud exclaimed. "Aeris! Can you reach me?"

"I'm not sure Cloud." Aeris replied. She mustered all of her energy and tried to pull herself up. She stretched her arm to reach his, but they where still a few inches apart.  
Suddenly, Aeris' grip slipped. She barely had enough time to grab the ledge with her other hand. She shook her head. "It's no good Cloud. I'm just not strong enough."

Cloud looked into her big green eyes. "Yes you are! Now come on!"

Aeris looked down at the two Sephiroths holding onto her. Her eyes met with the Light Sephiroth's, and he nodded.

The Light Sephiroth smiled. "It's been good to help you two again." And with another smile, he let go of Aeris' ankle, and the two Sephiroths fell into the pool of materia and Lifestream below them.

Aeris turned back to look at Cloud. She tried to reach up to him again.

"Come on Aeris..." Cloud said, as he stretched out to reach her.

They both reached for each other...

Finally, their fingers touched. Cloud began to grip her fingers, but suddenly, Aeris lost her grip.

She lashed out to grab the ledge, but she missed, and fell down into the pit beneath them.

"CLLLOOOouuddd..." She yelled as her voice slowly died out.

"NOOO!" Cloud yelled after her.

Tifa quickly pulled Cloud out.

Cloud just shook his head. With a lost look in his eyes, he just continued to shake his head. "No..."

Far beneath them, the two Sephiroths continued to battle, neither one gaining the upper hand.

Lights passed them, as they continued to fight as they fell deeper into the pit.

They both knew that this would be how it ends.

"So..." The Dark Sephiroth said. "We're finally going to end this!" He smiled. "And it looks like we're going to take her with us."

The Light Sephiroth forced himself to look up. His anger grew as he saw Aeris falling down to meet the same fate as them.  
The Dark Sephiroth began to laugh.

The Light Sephiroth saw that they where quickly approaching the pool beneath them. And with a fit of pure rage, he punched the Dark Sephiroth. It took him a second, but the Dark Sephiroth finally stopped laughing, and looked at the Light Sephiroth. "Oh... you call that a punch?"

Suddenly, the Light Sephiroth grabbed the Dark Sephiroth's head, and twisted it almost all the way around.

The Dark Sephiroth didn't move a muscle, but screamed out in pain.

The Light Sephiroth delivered one last punch to the Dark Sephiroth, and he fell silent.

The Light Sephiroth smiled. "Finally! And now... We can rest!"

At that instant, the Sephiroths hit the pool. Massive waves of energy exploded from their impact, and the Lifestream/Mako pool began to ripple and convulse, eagerly awaiting the arrival of it's next guest...

Light from the pit filled the room, showering everything in pure light.

Cloud didn't care. He just winced at the light. When it faded, he continued to stare into space.

Tifa continued to hold him. "The Sephiroths must have hit the bottom." She said softly. She looked at him. "Come on. Let's go before..." Tifa stopped. She decided it wouldn't be right to say anything else. They where about to loose one of their dearest friends...

Slowly, Cloud and Tifa made their way to the door.

But Cloud stopped before they got there. "Wait." He turned to face the pit. "She should of hit by now."

"So?" Tifa asked.

"So... why isn't there a flash of light? What's happened?" Cloud asked. He took a few steps near the pit.

Suddenly, a body in a dark suit began to rise from out of the pit. In his arms, was Aeris, safe and sound. Her eyes where flooded with worry, and fear.

Cloud had his sword out in a flash.  
Sephiroth landed, and put Aeris down. She ran over to Tifa., and got into a battle position with her and Cloud.

"Ok Sephiroth!" Cloud yelled. "Where's the other Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth smiled. "Cloud... an amazing thing has happened. Somehow... the pool below has merged the two of us together. We, err... I exist."

Cloud found this a little hard to believe. "What do you mean 'merged'?"

Sephiroth smiled again. "Somehow, both the Dark Sephiroth, and myself are now of one body. We both exist, but in the same body. I'm the one who is in control. Probably because I was able to make him go into unconsciousness at the last second..."

Tifa looked at him. "Then can you tell us what he wanted to do?"

Sephiroth thought about it, then shook his head. "No... It seems that even though I'm in control, I don't know what he thinks, or wants. I guess it's like having two different people in the same body... Hopefully, I will be able to make sure that he will never be able to gain control again."

Cloud carefully eyed him. "Ok... If you really are the Sephiroth I trusted, then you'll be able to tell me the password we developed after the Dark Sephiroth took Aeris away."

Sephiroth thought some more, then looked at Cloud confused. "Cloud... we never developed a password.."

Cloud smiled, and sheathed his sword. "Good. It really is you!"

Aeris, Tifa, Cloud and Sephiroth looked at each other, and smiled.

"So... Now what?" Sephiroth asked.

"Well..." Tifa started. "The others should be landing here soon. I think we should go an tell them what they missed."

Aeris smiled. "Yeah, let's."

And with that, all four of them left the City of the Ancients, to go meet up with their friends and tell them about the end of their adventure.


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

_Dear Diary,  
It's been almost a week now, since we "resurrected" Aeris. And quite a bit has happened.Reeve and Cait Sith now live with Cid and Shera. It's a good trade-off. Cid gets a friend, and Reeve gets help with Cait Sith. Reeve helps around, and also keeps Cid busy, either working on their new "top-secret" project, or working on improving Cait Sith.Cait Sith seems to spend most of his time inactive. It must be because there's not much to do in Rocket Town. But the few times he's been ON, he's mentioned something about starting a casino in that town...  
_

_Cid, on the other hand, is happy as ever. He can walk now, but still needs a cane. I suspect he'll walk with a limp for a while, but shortly after, he'll be running down the road like a loose rocket.  
_

_On a sad note, Barret returned to Corel to discover that he'd been replaced as Sheriff of that town. When he had asked for a re-vote, they said no, not only because of his violent nature, but because he had been gone during a major crisis that they needed him for. I think he moved back to Midgar, to help with the cleanup effort, but I haven't heard from him yet. I suspect he's going to surprise us with cleaning up the entire town, all by himself. ;-) I sure hope he watches over Marleen while they are there... Considering what it was like the last time I saw it...  
_

_Now, I hate to admit it, but I'm starting to get jealous. Cloud and Aeris seem to be spending a lot of time together. I keep telling myself that they just have a lot of questions for each other, but... Something tells me that they're falling in love. Maybe back in love as the case may be...  
_

_I suppose it's a good thing that Aeris is leaving Nibelheim tomorrow, to visit Zack's parents and then go see her mother. I think Zack and Aeris make a cute couple. Cloud's told me that they were in love once. I wonder if that's still true... And if it is... I might play matchmaker a bit...  
_

_Vincent, as always, faded back into the shadows. I haven't heard anything from him, and so I don't know where he is. The same goes for Sephiroth.  
_

_I can't explain it, but ever since those two Sephiroths "merged" I've been getting a very bad feeling about him. He's very nice, and polite, but... I think I'm just getting nervous that the darker part of him could emerge at any moment. Of course, it'll be a long time before I trust him, considering what he's done in the past... He's hurt so many people, and killed so many more, just in my life, alone... It's going to take a LOT of work for him to earn my trust again.  
_

_Anyway, Yuffie was finally able to take her father home to Wutai. That town was half burnt to the ground, so they are all re-designing the town. I hear that Yuffie wants a theater. You know, the kind used for putting on plays. I'm curious as to why... I haven't had a chance to ask her yet, but hopefully she'll tell us soon.  
_

_Apparently, while Cloud and I where gone, Jim had to sell the Shinra Mansion. However, the owner of it has mysteriously vanished, so we weren't sure what to do until this morning when we found the deed on our doorstep. I think the Mansion has either been return, or given to us. (Cloud and myself.)  
_

_Well... that's all for now Diary. So until I write again, I remain, _

_Tifa Lockheart_

Tifa walked over to the window.

In the far distance, the sun was setting over the mountains, while clouds hung around the tops of them. It was a wonderful sunset...

Tifa smiled. She looked down to see Zack and Aeris saying goodbye to Cloud. Tifa quickly went downstairs to also say goodbye and to wish their friends well.

**THE END**

**Author's Notes: Well...that's that for the Materia of Destiney. I have a feeling that the epilogue was way too short but i couldn't help it. I had to end the story somehow. There wasn't really much i could do as i didn't really know how to end the story in the first place. But...hope you guys enjoyed the ****story. And there were some of you who told me that there were afew "glitches" in the scripts. It's all settled. I'll try to work on a Hellsing ****fanfic so give me support! And remember to comment on the story. **


	13. Another Story: Wolf Child

**This actually has nothing to do with Final Fantasy at all. This is just a story that didn't made it to Fictionpress for some unknown reason(stupid account!). Anyway, this story here is 100 original. That means that all characters and places here are based on my imagination. Nothing else. If you want to, read this. If not, don't.**

**By the way, this is my firstserious story just to let you know. If it writes too amateurish, then i'll improve.**

**Wolf Child **

It is said that when one's near death's door, it would usually be painless; Jonathan McKenzie soon realized that wasn't always correct.

As he lay in the bask of the crescent moon, moisture seeping in his clothes, he observed the scenery with a vision that was slowly fading to black around the edges.

"_So it comes to this_." he spat as he observed his murderer. All he could make out was the very distinctive leather gloves that clad his hands.

And those teeth…

"If you're going to finish me, then do so…"

A swift kick to the side interrupted his speech. Blood gushed from both his mouth and from the wound directly above his stomach. He grunted in agony as an indescribable pain shot through his entire body. The person in black just laughed at his handiwork. The laugh then turned into a snarl as he throttled him against a tree, teeth bared just inches away from his face.

"I don't give a shit you fucked upped dick." a rough voice said. "You're the typical epitome of a fallen king. You're so pathetic I could end your life just like that."

But then, it wouldn't be fun wouldn't it?" he grinned as he tightened his grip on Jonathan.

"Then do it." He could feel death slowly taking him. Whether he dies or not doesn't really matter now.

The person in black just smiled.

"Fine then. Any last words?"

"Yeah."

He lowered his head and started to think. He started to think about his son. _He doesn't know about it yet._ he thought with regret. _Guess he'll find about it soon._

"Finished praying to your gods yet?"

Jonathan looked up. He saw the face of his killer one last time. He smiled one final smile.

"He'll get you."

The killer cocked a thick eyebrow.

"Who will?"

"My son."

The killer just laughed a cold laugh.

"That sounds like fun." he said, eyes glistening with bloodlust. "I hope he proves to be interesting."

But Jonathan McKenzie spoke no more.

A few hundred miles away in Deadwood, Tom McKenzie woke up from a nightmare.

Tom woke up, eyes wide open in the dark of his room. Breathing hard, he slowly rubbed his eyes as he got up from his bed.

"_It's that dream again."_ he thought as he walked over to the window.

He could see the small village of Deadwood spread out like a painting; small, warm and country-like. With the usual dark, brooding forest at the end of it. Right now the sun was slowly rising over the mountains, giving it a soft, delicate touch of red and yellow.

A year back when tom moved to Deadwood, he particularly liked that scene. It gave him a sense of wonder. A sense of peace.

But after when he moved in with his parents, he started to have weird dreams.

Dreams of his dad being killed.

The dreams occurred every night, each time the very same thing happening; his father would be strolling in the woods, taking his usual nightly strolls. Then, all of a sudden, a shot echoed throughout the dark woods. The next thing he knew, his dad fell to the floor, a seeping bullet hole boring through his stomach. A person in dark then walked up to him, and after staring at the body for a few minutes, would throttle him against a large oak tree.

But the dream went as far as that.

Nothing more.

Tom sat on his bed, and mused over the dream he experienced. _Well…can't say that was a sweet dream, that's for sure,_ he thought as he got himself changed.

_"But enough about that…side's, I'm already late for work as it is"_

As he entered the living room, he saw his mom, wide awake. She was clutching the morning paper with trembling hands. Tears ran slowly down her reddening eyes as she very slowly turned to see her son. Tom suddenly developed a very sickening thought as to think why his mother would be doing out so early on a Sunday morning.

"Mom," Tom said as he approached his mother. "What's the matter?"

She didn't say anything. There wasn't any need to say anything. She just put the paper down on the table, and put her face in her hands.

He picked up the paper as if the paper contained a deadly disease, and read the front page.

**Local author murdered in woods. Murderer unknown.**

It took Tom two minutes to register what happened. And after the minutes had passed, an anger surged within him. It consumed his soul and raged like the fiery furnace of hell itself. He felt his whole body shake as to comprehend with the situation.

"Who would do such a thing to dad?" Tom said sliently, trying his best to count up to ten in his mind. "I already told you mom, not to let that old fucking geezer walk in the…"

"Don't speak ill of the dead!"

Mrs McKenzie stood up, ancient fury in her green eyes. She walked up to Tom, and gave him a slap.

Tom was taken aback by the slap. Almost immediately, all of the anger that was welling up within, just disappeared.

"Mom..."

"He's still your father," she said softly, stroking his cheek. "At least, let's say afew words for him."

"But mom,"

"Just do it."

"……..ok."

Tom thought about his dad. Memories of his dad beating him suddenly came back to him. It came flooding back like a tidal wave of memories, washing over and repeating itself over again and again. His dad beating him, for coming home late on his school day. His dad beating him for stealing the petty cash.

It was all just a blur. A mixture of feelings soon came after. Sure, he thought to himself, I didn't have any good memories of dad when I was young…

"buthe's still……dad after all…" he said sadly. He could feel hot, salty tears running down his face. He could feel it overcoming him. This sudden feeling. It came slowly as first. Then it started to creep up his throat. Very slowly, the effects were starting to show; tears, red scrunched up face, furrowed eyebrows.

His mother put a hand on his shoulder. Let it out. She said. For dad.

And he cried.

He cried the way only a son could for his father. The feelings of anger and angst all came flowing out at once. And the tears kept on spilling out of his brown eyes.

His mother just let him cry.

_"he doesn't know about it yet."_ Mrs McKenzie thought, worried features etched on her pale, ancient face. _"I guess it's up to me to tell him."_

"Tom. It's time I told you something important."

Outside the McKenzie's house, a storm was brewing. Black clouds hung overhead as thunder roared to make it's presence known. A harsh wind blew South from the mountains, giving the scenery a very grim and harsh look. The whole, sun kissed scene seemed to instantly change it's mood, almost as a chameleon changes it's colours. Greyish tones coloured everything, almost as if someone deliberately splashed grey paint on a beautiful painting.

A pair of boots crunched on the concrete pavement. Red, hellfire eyes observed the scenery with a combined look of nostalgia and disgust. Those eyes then rolled upwards to a certain house, no, only house on the hill.

_"It's amazing that not much changes after many years." _he thought with slight amusement. His leather clad hands twitched in anticipation of the hunt.

"But I have a job to do." he said as he towards the hill.

"Your father isn't really a writer…by day I mean." said Mrs McKenzie.

"What do you mean "by day"?" said Tom. But he somehow secretly knew the answer already.

"Do you still remember the time you were attacked by a pack of wolves in the forest?"

Tom unexpectedly moved his hand towards his forearm. He remembered the incident as if it was just yesterday.

_"Who wouldn't?"_ he thought

"……..yeah." he said.

"That pack didn't just attack you just by coincidence." she said. "That pack was your father's."

There came a silence. For a few minutes during that silence, Tom actually considered the fact that his mom might actually be senile.

_"But mom isn't_ _the type who goes senile by this age."_ he murmured.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Nothing." he said.

"Anyway, your father wanted to initiate you in the pack early. Said because to carry on the bloodline."

_"I'll play along then."_ he thought. "What bloodline?" he said mockingly.

"The way you talk tells me that you don't believe me." She said. "I need you to believe me because what I'm about to tell you is the truth." she said, total conviction in her eyes.

"You are a werewolf."

Those words hit Tom like a battering ram; hard. He didn't really want to believe. Maybe his mom really had gone senile in the past few years.

But deep down he knew. He knew some sort of monster was breathing within. Breathing. Begging to be let loose in the world of the living.

But he still didn't believe.

"Mom," Tom said slowly. Are you sure about this?"

"I don't have to repeat myself." she said in a final tone. "All this is the truth and you know it."

Tom stared down at the floor. He didn't want to believe this. He didn't want to believe the fact that his dad might, just might, be a werewolf who somehow passed down his genes to his only son.

"If I really am a……" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "werewolf, why haven't I gone all fanged and fuzzy during full moons and stuff?"

"That's because you could control it." she said. "You were the only one in the family tree that could control the change and not go crazy at the same time."

He realized, in a weird but slowly believing way that it was true.

"But still." Tom said, rubbing his temples thoughtfully. "Who would want to kill dad?"

"I think I have a hunch as to who would." Mrs McKenzie blurted out suddenly.

The stranger continued walking, passing by the shop houses along the street. He stared upwards at the sky, realizing that it was getting dark soon.

_"All the better."_ he thought with malice. He could slowly feel the Change taking over his entire body. It was slowly clawing at him, inch by inch.

_"I can't wait,"_ he thought in-between breaths._ "To kill the son……of the Alpha Wolf!"_

"It must be Josef." she mumbled.

"Who?" Tom questioned.

"Josef." "Josef Dolinovodno. Ex KGB captain. And also right now in charge of your father's pack."

"Huh. I thought dad was in charge?" he said.

"He used to be….until he met me." said Mrs McKenzie. She stood up, walked towards the window by the side, and stared out.

"When your father first met me he used to be…different." she said, emphasising the word different. "Kind, gentle, he struck me with his charms. When he found out I bore you, he said he was the happiest man on earth."

"He doesn't show much of it." Tom said angrily.

"He does care." she said, touching him on his leg. "It's just that he can't really express himself to you. He wanted you to have a firm foundation. Be strong and make wise decisions was what he said to you when you were born."

"Then why the hell does he keep beating me for all the simplest faults I've done?"

"It was his way of showing care. He secretly cared for you dearly. When he realised that his son might become a werewolf, he wanted you to control your powers." she said. "He didn't want you to turn into a monster like him." she said, tears welling slowly in her eyes.

"Mom…"

She wiped the tears out before continuing.

"When your dad had you, he immediately told all the members that he was quitting for good. And that he was leaving Josef in charge."

"Everyone thought that was a bad idea. 'said that he was too ambitious." Mrs McKenzie said. "Always thinking about new ideas of how the werewolves could overthrow the humans."

"But your dad said to give him a chance." she said. "Always had been the type to giving chances."

"And look where it landed him in." she concluded.

The stranger looked at the house facing him. He then fished out a piece of grubby looking paper.

_"Number 32."_ he thought. He looked at the mailbox.

"The McKenzie's. Right on time." he said as he stared at the sky. It was already dark as a full moon peaked a tiny sliver from the clouds.

"So let me get this straight." said Tom. "Some crazy, ex-KGB werewolf is after me just because I'm the son of the alpha wolf?"

A nod of her head confirmed that.

Tom just sat down. He thought about what his mom had explained to him. Maybe I'm in a dream, he thought. Maybe it's those dreams that were so realistic that you think you are actually living in it. Yeah, he thought. Maybe that's true.

But a dream couldn't be a dream. To what Tom experienced next forcefully expelled all hopes that this could ever be a dream.

He closed his eyes as the Change took over him. He shook off his boots to reveal sharp yellow nails that were beginning to resemble the claws of an enormous wolf. He could feel the irresistible effect of the lunar orb as tiny hairs bristled all over his body. Canine fangs slid from his gums. His fingers started to curl into claws. His eyes turned from a hue of red to a dark cobalt. His spine twisted and contorted into something more primal and ancient. He noticed his skin turn from a pale white to a pitch dark colour of black. The lengths of his arms and legs lengthened to freakish proportions of a monster.

A moan escaped form his lips as his skull underwent a drastic metamorphosis. A canine snout protruded from his face. His brow sloped backward above fierce blue eyes. Tufted ears tapered to a point. Flattened nostrils flared above a mouthful of jagged incisors. Foam dripped from his wolfen jaws.

His senses expanded tremendously, the night coming alive with thousands of new scents and sounds. As the transformation neared it's completion, he felt an inner exhilaration. He stretched out his claws, revelling in his heightened strength and vitality. Succumbing to a primal impulse, he howled triumphantly at the moon.

Josef licked his massive jaws. He had only one thought on his mind.

_"Now the hunt commences."_

"What the hell was that?" Tom said, panic stricken with fear.

"You better make a move now Tom." Mrs McKenzie said as she showed him the back door. "He's already here."

"Josef?" Tom said.

"Don't ask the obvious." was all she said. "Go now. I'll hold him back."

"You can't, you'll get injured." said Tom. But he knew what she was going to say next.

"Don't worry." she said in a strangely lax voice. "I'll catch up with you in the forest later."

"Besides, I have some unfinished business to do with him." she said.

For a brief glimpse, Tom saw an expression of her mother that he never saw before. It was hard to see with the lack of light emitting from a small bulb in the kitchen but for a moment, he saw delight on his mother's face. It was as if she was stuck in a trance. It reminded him of those crazed barbarians going to a war, drunk with the lust for blood. It was as if she was going to enjoy the fight she couldn't possibly win.

"Go now." was the last words that Tom heard from his mother.

Tom didn't say anything. He didn't needed to.

And he ran.

Tom ran and ran until he couldn't possibly run anymore. His legs ached with weariness but he still pumped both legs to carry him.

_"What the FUCK is going on?"_ he thought madly as he ducked at an incoming branch. _"Is this all for real?"_

_"Why the hell am I running anyway?"_

He stopped suddenly. He looked around to take the surroundings in. He was surrounded by large, looming birch trees. It seemed to cover the entire sky, swallowing it all up. Save one space in the centre. The darkness was slowly engulfing all of it, covering the scenery in it's pitch darkness. The pitch silent of the night, with the occasional hoot of an owl, made the scenario look like a cheap, horror show.

And just like clockwork, a sliver of light sliced through the darkness. Tom looked upwards towards the source of light, and laid his eyes on the moon.

It immediately had an intoxicating effect on him. It was as if he was drawn to it's pale, mystifying effect. It was as if he desired it.

A chilling howl interrupted his temporary trance.

_"_Ah shit_."_ he cursed as he ran.

The large werewolf stepped into the forest's edge. Tilting his large head upwards, he caught wind of the prey.

_"That way."_ it thought.

As it ran through the forest, it's mind recalled back at the house.

_"That old bitch actually managed to put up quite a fight,"_ he thought vindictively. _"Too bad she kicked the bucket early."_

_"I hope the son proves to be more interesting."_ he thought as he ran, anticipating the fight that was to come.

"I can't take anymore of this."

Tom halted to a stop. He saw a large log and sat down. His white collar shirt, drenched with sweat, clung to his chest like ivy. His legs felt as if he just did a cross-country run.

_"Make that two cross country's."_ he thought humourlessly.

But that humourless joke didn't knock out the fact of what he just did.

_"That was really weird."_ he thought.

_"Maybe I really am a…no. It can't be."_

_"Maybe I'm suffering from some sort of disease. Yeah that's right. Maybe I am suffering from a type of disease that makes me imagine that I am a……no. Can't say it."_

_"But you know it's true."_ a voice quietly said at the back of his mind. _"All that stuff your mother said was true and you know it."_

"Now there are voices in my head," he said loudly. "What have I got to lose?"

There was a noise. An almost silent sprint. It came from the void of darkness with an almost terrifying speed. And at the same time, he felt an inner desire. A desire that wasn't like any other.

A desire to kill.

Josef halted to a dead stop. He sniffed the air once again. His wolfen eyes widened in surprise.

_"Wait a minute,"_ he thought. _"He's…"_

A distorted grimace formed on the werewolf's massive jaws.

_"This makes the hunt even more worth while."_ he thought as he continued his sprint.

The Change gripped Tom like a bolt of lighting. It came slowly at first, like a churning down in his stomach. Then a sharp pain throughout his body commenced the Change.

Tiny hairs bristled all over his body as his skin turned from a light tan to a dark brown. His eyes changed from brown to a golden colour of a wolf. Tom raised his hands to gaze upon enlarging yellow nails the size of steak knives.

_"Holy shi…."_ he thought. Another burst of pain registered in his body before he could finish.

A painful moan escaped from his mouth as his body underwent a painful metamorphosis. Wet bone and muscle twisted underneath the skin, reverting to something more animalistic. His bones lengthened to massive proportions. Muscle expanded within seconds.

Bone and gristle cracked and contorted as Tom's skull underwent a drastic transformation. A wolfen snout pushed painfully out of his mouth. Large canines jutted out of his newly formed mouth. His hair grew long and formed into a widow's peak.

He suddenly heard a click in his head. It all made sense now.

_"So this is how it's like."_ he mused, suddenly overwhelmed with an immense amount of bravery and courage.

_"Bring it on you bastard. Let's see what you got."_ he thought, anger in his wolfen eyes.

_"……that way."_

The scent was fading. When anyone with the ability Changed, the scent wouldn't stand as strong as it originally was.

And Josef was loosing that scent.

Curling his claws in fury, he quickened his pace.

_"He's got to be around here somewhere."_

_"Wait!"_

The black werewolf halted behind a birch, body tense with anticipation. Trying to conceal himself within the shadows, he stood back from the light of the lunar disc.

Contrary to popular belief, werewolves still retained all of their human mentality. Josef knew that there might, just might, be something off in this situation. He encountered certain prey back in the days of old which were more than what met the eye.

He definitely wasn't taking any chances.

_"His scent stops here."_ he thought, trying to think of some way to backstab the prey.

_"But something's not right."_

As if by instinct, he leaped to the side as a brown flash ripped through the birch he was just standing behind a few seconds ago. Bark and leaves fell as half the tree collapsed on the ground.

_"Tch. I knew it."_

A roar escaped his throat, signalling the fight. His vision began to cloud with the red of bloodlust. Yellow claws tense with the anticipation of the fight that is to come.

_"That didn't work." _

Tom wasn't expecting that sneak attack to pull off. He had a feeling that he was dealing with someone, or something with more experience.

_"Maybe of that of a soldier."_

He felt his body involuntarily carry him to the opening, as if being tugged by a invisible chain. A roar escaped the other wolf's throat suddenly. But Tom heard nothing. Only a thumping beat ringing in his ears. Foam dripped from his massive maw.

He felt his newly formed legs move. Slowly at first, then into a sprint. His jaw formed into a snarl, showing jagged canines dripping with venom. His yellow nails, hard and firm with adrenaline, splayed opened for the kill.

He swung his arm, fully intent on hitting the target. Josef side stepped casually to the side, acting as if the swipe was in slow motion.

Tom staggered clumsily, the after effects of the swing clearly showing his inexperience in fighting. Clenching his jaws, he tried a roundhouse. And failed again.

_"That's enough of playing around."_

A sharp pain exploded in his throat. Powerful fingers lifted Tom in the air, crushing the air out of his lungs. Nails dug into his thick neck as thin, venous streams of blood ran down the other wolf's hands.

The black werewolf regarded Tom. It stared deep into his molten gold eyes, studying his prey as like studying a piece of game.

All Tom could do was struggle, and wait to die.

_"Is that all?"_

Josef was having second thoughts about the hunt. He wasn't expecting Jonathan's pup to be such a weakling. Sure, he thought, he may have been with that human mother for so long.

_"But to be this weak?"_

He released his grip on Tom, dropping him like a sack of coal. He stepped back a few steps, measuring the footsteps slowly. The brown wolf just lay there, chest heaving up and down. A whimper escaped it's throat.

Josef saw the pitiful being there, anger in his icy eyes. The hunt had been planed beforehand. He had trained hard for this very moment. His teeth bled red with antagonism.

And he was disappointed. But he wasn't going to be denied of a fight. No. Even if he had to claw at invisible enemies and rage at ghosts, he won't go without a decent fight.

_"Another chance."_

His throat blazed like the sun. His back felt sore. He could sleep for centuries long.

A mournful howl echoed in his head. Tom opened his eyes, to come face with the night sky.

It was a beautiful night. The stars were carelessly littered on the blue black canvas of the sky, giving it a look of utter serenity. A full moon peaked from the clouds above.

_"Get up." _

Feeling that familiar tugging at his chest again, he got up from the moist ground, a unknown fiery determination burning within. He saw the other werewolf, icy eyes staring right back at him. They acknowledged him, regarding him as one of his own.

Tom had a feeling that he had been spared. Usually in other circumstances he would just let things slide. He had always been the peaceful type, always minding his business when he could.

But this time he couldn't. Something told him not to turn tail. He didn't know but be knew. That invisible chain seemed to egg him to fight, fight, fight……..

Actions didn't described what happened next.

Tom disappeared. He was there for a minute's glance. And he vanished.

Josef's eyes bulged. He went into a stance, eyes darting around to catch the enemy. He'd never seen anything like that. Never at all.

_"What the..."_

A large fist smacked him from behind. The force of the hit sent him crashing through the trees, splintering all trees in the wake.

Clumsily gathering his bearings, Josef grabbed a large tree to prevent himself flying any further. Another hit from the side bought him to the ground. Blow after blow rained down on his body like flaming comets.

He struggled to fend off the blows. His vision was beginning to fade. He coughed blood.

He loved this.

_"Now THIS is a fight,"_ he thought as he rolled away just in time to avoid a fatal blow. Jumping to his feet, he turned to face his enemy.

It was either the loss of blood or the weariness of age which was affecting what he saw in front of his eyes. There was something there, on the edge of the clearing. The moonlit sky gave it a more clear view.

It looked remotely like a werewolf, but didn't 'feel' like one. There was a reddish aura emitting from the mud haired werewolf, giving it a hellish look. His teeth and claws seemed to drip with invisible poison. His gold eyes blazed like the pits of oblivion itself.

For a short time, the enemy stared at Josef, thinking, catching for an unguarded spot.

And he disappeared again.

He tried to move, tried but didn't budge an inch. His arms wouldn't obey him as well. It was as if the hunter became the hunted.

_"Why won't my legs move?"_ Josef thought, feeling his innards suddenly turn cold. Trying to sound brave, he let out a roar. What was supposed to be a battle cry was a weak, hoarse moan.

A sudden fist punch appeared from the side, sending him flying through the trees once again.

But now he couldn't do anything, couldn't flip back up and roar in the opponent's face like he always did. He was still frozen, limbs cemented firmly on the ground. His bravery and courage was wiped out in only a few seconds, and he didn't know why.

But the pain didn't stop there. The fist grabbed him by the throat, squeezing the very air out of his lungs. He felt himself getting scraped on the forested ground, adding to the pain which was building up in his throat. His eyes seemed to bulge open, the pressure worming throughout his head. He felt his stomach walls burst, feeling the hot, acidic liquid slowly cook his other organs.

He tasted something salty and metallic on his tongue. He knew what it was. It was then that a particular feeling came back creeping at him. He too recognised that feeling like an old gash, slowly feeling the scabs of protection peel and tear, exposing the wound's truth. He hadn't felt like this ever since the war in '63. He hadn't felt like this in a long time.

Tom felt an overwhelming surge of inner energy. It seemed to seep out of his pores, giving him an seemingly iron determination to kill that sick, sadistic fuck of a werewolf. Adrenaline revitalised his spirits as he rained blow after blow down on his enemy's body, pulling every punch as hard as he meant them to be. He landed one, then another, and another, the punishing blows didn't stop a beat. The other wolf just lay there, taking everything in. Like as if these hits were nothing.

_"why won't he move?'_ He thought angrily. It almost seemed that he was fighting with nothingness, an empty vessel. It was quite literally, fighting a wolf who had lost it's teeth, it's bite.

It almost seemed useless to continue the fight.

With a deep sense of triumph, he grabbed the werewolf's thick neck, squeezing every drop of oxygen out of it's lungs. Lifting the black lump of mass upwards towards the moonlit sky, he stared deeply into it's eyes.

Eyes of the dead stared back. Eyes that used to blaze with passion for the hunt now seemed hazy with fatigue and despair. Cobalt eyes glistened with a tinge of crimson, as if it was crying blood. He was nearing his end, that he could tell. But it seemed that he had something else to say, something else before he met his rather painful demise.

_Kill me._

That voice appeared in his head suddenly like a sucker punch in the gut. Tom's wolfen eyes widened with a irritated look. Not relinquishing his grip on the werewolf, he questioned the voice.

_What's this? Another friend in my head?_

_It's me. Josef._

Tom shook his head in quick jolts. He really had to think about this. Voices in my head? What next? Aliens?

_I know it's hard to believe it. But it's really me having a conversation in your head._

_How can you do such a thing?_

_I had no choice. She and I had a few indifferences in the past we had to settle._

_I was actually referring to me…_

If the other wolf displayed, or wanted to, show any emotions, he was doing a good job at hiding them. The conversation continued.

_Why did you come after me in the first place?_ Tom yelled in his head.

The werewolf bent his shaggy head downwards, as if somebody robbed him of his spine.

_For the thrill of the hunt I suppose,_ he said casually as he stared at Tom. There was a certain relaxed tone of speaking in his gruff voice which sent invisible fingers of cold up Tom's back.

_I mean, if you are one of us for a long time, you'll realize killing is like eating, which is actually both of the same category if you look at it carefully. _

_You'll want it. Need it. Hunger for it. Want it so badly that you'll think of nothing but it. And even if you've killed, you'll kill again. Nothing will quench the eternal thirst for strength and blood. _

_And it's clearly true in your case, am I right?_

In what seemed to be exactly like suspended animation, both monstrous entities didn't move. Both stared at each other with cold, neutral eyes. Both waiting for each other to move.

And then it happened.

Day broke, stealing darkness as swiftly as darkness itself. The large, flaming orb started it's slow trek upwards towards the reddish yellow skies, inch by inch over the mountains first.

The yellow orb then glazed it's light on a human body. It lay unmoved, even as a gentle breeze blew south from the mountains. Large, congealed nail scratches covered the man's body, as if attacked by a large dog. His mouth was frozen in a jaw-breaking snarl, revealing unusually pointed canines. His unusually large hands, frozen in slight rigor mortis, were splayed open widely, as if they sported invisible claws. His neck was bent a grotesque ninety degrees, covered by bruises and more nail marks.

Red eyes stared lifelessly at the sky.

Tom observed calmly as crows descended on the dead body. They fought, squabbled, like uncivilised ruffians. They finally decided, then continued to devour the body with a renowned vigour. Bits of liver and spleen splattered nosily as the beaks pierced the mushy grey organs.

But this sight could not differ Tom's mind as the words rang continuously in his head, over and over again, almost as if someone glued a tape recorder to the back of his head.

_You'll want it. Need it. Hunger for it._

_Even if you've killed, you'll_ _kill again._

_Want it so badly you'll think of nothing but it…._

Tom snapped himself awake. He walked pass the corpse towards the edge of the forest. He noticed, with a slight sense of comfort, that the sun was rising over the mountains. He found it surprising that that particular sight still put him at ease.

_Like old times I guess….._

His thoughts abruptly came back to last night. He thought about what Josef had said, things that were all too true, and came up with a final conclusion.

_I may be like you. But I 'm not you._

Staring downwards at Deadwood, he thought about what he should do.

_Both mom and dad are dead. Deadwood now means nothing to me. Now where do I go?_

"Is he dead?"

"Yeah. No doubt about it."

Back further on inside the woods, four people stayed hidden inside the thick foliage, observing their dead leader with slight amusement.

"So does that mean Josef's no longer our leader?" said a quiet voice.

"Yep."

A lanky person stepped forward slightly towards an opening. Sunlight reflected off his oiled leather coat which covered his slim, athletic figure. A holstered .45 Glock hung openly from his tapered black jeans. Black boots clad his large, rugged feet.

"We follow him." the person in black said suddenly.

"Since when did you become the leader Daley?" said the quiet voice.

"I haven't finished Smithback," Daley said, irritance in his voice. He brushed back a messy fringe of white hair before continuing. "We follow him, put him through a couple of tests, decide whether he's worthy of being our new leader."

"But he killed Josef", said a deep voice from the back. "Doesn't that prove that he's our new leader?"

"Not yet," said Daley. "He may officially be our new leader but I'm still unconvinced."

"Well, if you want to test him so badly, I suggest you make haste quickly." Smithback said as he hinted towards Tom. "He's leaving the site while we still engage in this pointless argument."

"Okay fine. Let's go."

The four strangers stood up, their long shadows casting over the soft, stony ground. And as if an invisible message shot through their minds, they ran.

**Writer's Note: Usually, in this section, the author or writer would write their thanks and appreciation to their friends, family, resources, etc etc etc. I would have done that, but it sounds. No. It IS cheesy to even write in that format. I will, however, tell you about the next and final instalment of the series.**

**Hopefully, our hero Tom can try to adapt to his newfound ability, with the occasional full moon now and then. The pack members, most of them, acknowledge their new leader with no hard feelings. Daley, on the other hand, still seems doubtful about the abilities that Tom could not achieve as Jonathan McKenzie could. We'll see what happens in the next instalment.**

**That's all I'm going to write here. I'm going to say a few thanks to the three stooges Donny, Toaster and Richard. For just by looking at your actions, movements, talking, I can laugh and continue writing with ease and relaxation.**

**That's right. I lied.**


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